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DEDICATION 



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AMHERST COLLEGE. 



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ADDRESSES 



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THE DEDICATION 



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NEW CABINET AND OBSERVATORY 



OF AMHERST COLLEGE, 



JUNE 28, 1848. 



BY 



HON. WILLIAM B. CALHOUN AND OTHERS. 




AMHERST: 
J. S» & C. ADAMS, PRINTEKS, 

\''h\ MDCCCXLVIII. 



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The New Cabinet and Observatory of Amherst College havmg been ' erected 
by the donations of more than forty individuals, and the Institution having been 
liberally aided by others of late, these Benefactors and others were invited by the 
Tnistees and Faculty to meet on the 28th of June, to examine the edifice and 
the collections in Natural History which the College contains, and to unite in 
public thanksgiving to God. After an introductory Welcome by the President of 
the Institution, the principaFAddress was delivered by Hon. William B. Cal- 
houn : And at the public dinner, several other addresses were made by distin- 
guished gentlemen who were present. The whole is here presented in the belief 
that it will gratify those friends of the College who were not present to mingle 
in the scenes of that delightful occasion. 



WELCOME BY THE PRESIDENT. 



Friends and Benefactors of Amherst College, and of Science and Reliyion : 

It is my delightful privilege to-day, in the name of the Trustees 
and Faculty of this Institution and of the citizens of this village, to 
welcome you to this place. We have indeed no baronial castles, nor 
magnificent palaces, to bid you look upon, nor city luxuries to tempt 
your appetites. But we can show you nature all around us, in her 
freshness and grandeur. These broad plains, which bound the Con- 
necticut, — these rich clusters of the primeval forests, and this noble 
amphitheatre of mountains around us, reposing majestically against 
the summer sky, all send back the echoing voice of welcome. These 
college edifices too, reminding us of the generous spirits and liberal 
hands that erected them, now for the most past gone to their reward, — 
and also of the many noble hearted youth who have been educated 
here, these edifices put on to-day an unmounted dress * to honor your 
presence. And the young men now connected with the Institution 
whom your liberality has of late provided with increased facilities for 
an education, and whom we are proud to introduce to you, hail 
your coming. But it is mainly to show you some of the fruits of your 
beneficence in the new Cabinet and Observatory and their contents, 
that we have invited you hither. Allow me briefly to recapitulate 
what God through your instrumentality, has done for us within the last 
two years. 

First in the order of time, though not perhaps in the order of an- 
nouncement, came the munificent endowment of two and a half Pro- 
fe:^sorships of S2D,000 each, by Hon. Samuel Williston, though one 
of them dates a little farther back than two years. The other half of 
the third Professorship, was promptly supplied by Samuel A. Hitch- 
cock Esq. 

^Recently fitted up with window blinds. 



Through the judicious and persevering efforts of the friends of the 
College in the State Legislature, and eminently of its graduates, who 
were members, the sum of S?25,000, in five annual installments, was 
granted. And with this we have been enabled to cancel our debts, 
make our buildings more comfortable, reduce the expenses of tuition, 
and provide a handsome endowment for a Massachusetts Professor- 
ship, which shall forever bear testimony to our gratitude. 

The next movement that resulted in rich blessings to the Institu- 
tion, was an attempt to erect a new Cabinet of Natural History, in 
connection with an Astronomical Observatory. Through the generous 
efforts of Hon. Josiah B. Woods, and the liberality of more than forty 
gentlemen in the Commonwealth, this object has been accomplished, 
and the edifice which meets your eyes to-day on an adjoining emi- 
nence, and whose proportions and construction I think you will say 
do honor to the architect and to all concerned in its erection, has 
been the result, at an expenditure of about nine thousand dollars. 

As a consequence of the erection of this Cabinet, a deposit has been 
made in it of the rich and beautiful collections of Professor Shepard, 
which are now displayed for examination. They consist of an almost 
unequalled collection of meteoric stones, by which the mineralogy and 
geology of other worlds are brought under our eyes : also of a very 
select and complete collection of simple minerals : an extensive series 
of geological specimens : and large groups of the different classes of 
animals. The lower room of the same building has in it, arranged 
and ticketed, not less than t^velve collections in geology, amounting to 
more than 11,000 specimens. 

Nor is this all. For during the last year Professor Adams has 
made a donation to tlie college, not only of a suite of some 2000 spec- 
imens of the rocks and minerals of Vermont, and numerous speci- 
mens of preserved animals, and thousands of insects, but also his su- 
perb collection of shells, containing nearly 5000 species, and almost 
countless varieties ; — forming one of the richest conchological collec- 
tions in the United States. These are now arranged with great neat- 
ness in the old College Cabinet, so far as that could contain them. 
The remainder have been placed upon the floor of the Library, until 
the time, which I hope may not be far distant, — when the library 
shall gain strength and numbers sufficient to drive the beautiful intru- 
ders from its premises. 

Thus, Gentlemen, as our means of exhibiting specimens have in- 
creased, through your benefactions, have they flowed in upon us in 



wonderful profusion ; so that we are really nearly as mucli straitened 
for room for future additions, as before we appealed to your liberali- 
ty. When you have examined these collections, I think you will 
agree with me in the opinion, that the specimens belonging to, or de- 
posited in, the cabinet, are nearly ten times as valuable as they were 
three years ago. 

I shall not be able to give as flattering a view of the Observatory, 
The transit room is indeed furnished with as fine a Transit Instrument, 
Repeating Circle, and Astronomical Clock, as we could desire. But 
we have no Telescope with which to grace the pedestal of the tower. 
"We should be very faithless and ungrateful, however, to doubt, that 
the same Providence, which has done so much for us the past year, 
will send us a fitting telescope, if it be best for us to have one ; and 
send it too, just at the right time. 

One other donation during the past year should not be forgotten. 
It consists of real estate in the city of Boston, estimated by the donor, 
the Hon. Daniel Sears, to be of the value of $12,000. This with 
$10,000 formerly bestowed is to constitute the " Sears Foundation of 
Literature and Benevolence" And although for the present it does 
not yield a large income, yet such are the terms on which it is bestow- 
ed, that it must ultimately become of immense value to the College : 
And even now, for several years past, with the addition of Si 000 
furnished by John Tappan Esq. for the same purpx)se, it has enabled 
us to purchase books enough to prevent our losing sight of the vari- 
ous branches of science, as they rapidly expand by new discoveries. 

Now to gentlemen who are familiar with large sums of money, 
splendid public buildings, and vast collections in natural history, the 
additions to our means that have been enumerated, may not seem of 
so great importance as they do to us. We do not boast of them, in- 
deed ; that would be infatuation. But gratitude, — deep sincere grat- 
itude, becomes us ; and we know that we feel it : Gratitude first of all 
and above all, to God. For we honestly believe, that it was He 
who put it into your hearts to come to our help. Never, it seems to 
us, was his special Providence more manifest than in this whole busi- 
ness, from its inception to the present hour. If ever I had doubted 
God's special agency in influencing the hearts of men to deeds of be- 
nevolence, the experience of the last two years would have removed 
all my skepticism. Permit us then from a full heart, to praise God 
for our increased means of honoring Him by promoting the cause of 
education. 



But think not because we render our first tribute of thanks to God, 
that we are less grateful to you. We honor you as the faithful al- 
moners of our Father in heaven : And what higher praise can we 
bestow? We cannot forget the circumstances under which you 
came to our help. A great work had been committed to us, but we 
had not the means of successfully accomplishing it. Promising 
young men were here, but we could not give them all the facilities 
which a public education demands in the nineteenth century. We 
were crippled for the want of pecuniary means ; and that was a suf- 
ficient reason for the Priest and the Levite to pass by on the other 
side. But you came to our rescue, because we were wounded. And 
if help in such circumstances does not awaken gratitude, those who are 
aided, deserve to perish. We well remember the long years of dis- 
couragement and toil through which we passed. My predecessor in 
office, whom I had hoped to see present to-day, and the Trustees of 
the Institution, who have long been associated with him in its over- 
sight, could tell us many a sad tale on this subject. I could wish, 
also, that another were here, who for many years sustained a bitter 
conflict between hope deferred, and the shattered nerves of a diseased 
constitution ; and who sunk at last, in a distant land, before the news 
reached him that liberal hearts had come to the relief of the beloved 
institution to which he had devoted the vigor and ripeness of his days. 
But he had a presentiment of the result. For only a few days be- 
fore his departure, he said to me with almost prophetic accuracy, 
" Amherst College will be relieved ; Mr. Williston, I think will give 
it $50.000 ; and you will put his name upon it" If human wishes 
could be gratified, that beloved friend would have been here to-day, 
to be cheered by the fulfilment of his prediction. But he knows it 
all, I doubt not : nor can I believe him indifferent to our interests, 
though now engaged in far higher enterprises. 

Tliink not then, Gentlemen, that you are invited hither to-day, 
through mere form, for the sake of a mere pageant- If any of you 
know what it is to labor year after year, in a cause which you feel to 
be a ""ood and important one, but which is in a depressed condition, 
and therefore meets not with popular favor ; if you know the heart 
sinking, the mortification, the struggle between duty and inclination, 
and the alternation of hope and despondency of such a state, then, 
you can realize our feelings for many a long year. And if you have 
seen that depressed cause suddenly assump a different aspect, and 
^ve felt your lungs breathe more freely, and your heart beat more 



lightly, through the liberal aid of some large-souled benefactor, then 
you can appreciate our feelings to-day. And you can realize how it 
is, that we have wanted an opportunity publicly to testity our grati- 
tude, and show you the effects of your benefactions. 

But highly as we appreciate the liberal aid of our friends, let it 
not be thought that we imagine all the wants of the Institution to be 
supplied, and that its instructors may henceforth repose on beds of 
down, and consider hard labor and strict economy no longer necessa- 
ry. We have invited you to look around upon this eminence to see 
the fruits of your donations. But while we hope you will discover 
some things as they ought to be," it would be strange if those who 
know what a college in the nineteenth century and in New England 
needs, should not see many things which require other benefactors as 
liberal as yourselves to bring them into a proper condition. If you 
had taken from us the necessity of hard work and rigid economy, we 
should regard it as a curse instead of a blessing. But you have only put 
more tools into our hands, to stimulate us to work the harder, because 
.we can now work more advantageously. You have loosened the 
cord that was almost choking us, and taken off the the incubus that 
was crushing us. And now we can labor vigorously and cheerfully, 
because we labor in hope. As to the cause to which we have devo- 
ted ourselves, we have never had any misgivings. It was marked 
out for us by those honest-hearted and noble-minded men, who laid 
the foundation of the Institution, and carried it forward under so 
many difficulties. To provide the means of an elevated and thor- 
ough literary and scientific education, for those who come hither, was 
not the chief end they had in view ; though that was an end essential 
to an ulterior object. To promote the cause of science and literature 
■was also a subordinate, though important end. But to make all sci- 
ence and all literature subservient to the still higher cause of pure re- 
ligion was their aim, and their prayer. Such too, I doubt not, has 
been the intention of our more recent benefactors. Indeed one of 
them,* in offering his rich collections in conchology and entomology 
to the Trustees, says : " This gift is made with a view to contrib- 
ute, in some small degree, to the exhibition of the glorious plan of 
creation, especially of the creation of organic beings, as this exists in 
the Divine Mind." 

When, therefore, we dedicate, as we now do, these new Professor- 
ships, this new Cabinet and Observatory, and thes« new Collections 

* Professor Adams. 



8 

In Natural History, to an object so transcendent, we know that the 
cordial Amen is uttered by your hearts, if not by your lips. And I 
would look upon it as an omen of the acceptance of this consecration, 
and a pledge of the permanent devotion of our new edifice, to such an 
object, that it occupies the site of an ancient church, where from 
generation to generation the inhabitants of Amherst have worshipped 
God. Palsied be the sacrilegious hands that shall ever desecrate 
guch collections on such a spot, to any inferior object. 



MR. CALHOUN'S ADDRESS. 



In the name of the Trustees of Amherst College, and by their ap- 
pointment, I have been deputed to present their thanks and to express 
their gratitude to the numerous patrons and benefactors of this Insti- 
tution, for the means, furnished by them, of raising it from decline and 
depression to its appropriate rank, and to the paths of prosperity, use- 
fulness and honor. The duty, which thus calls us together, is one em- 
inently pleasing and grateful. We cherish the hope, that this may 
be regarded as an act, not of pretending and spasmodic gladsomeness, 
nor of casual and merely exhilarating excitement, but as the dictate 
of the clearest obligation. 

This College holds an important position in the land. Established 
as it is, in the heart of that great valley, to which the public eye has 
been singularly directed from the commencement of our records, we 
may look upon it as certain that the importance of this position will 
be even more than proportionally increased, as generation after gene- 
ration shall advance to replenish this beautiful domain, to give vigor 
and influence to the tone of public thinking, and to modify and shape 
all those elements, Avhich make up the character of a people. 

How is this great purpose to be accomplished, but by the combined 
power of education and Christianity ? These have made us all that 
we are : the results are before us. Experience, the best of masters, 
has taught us the extraordinary adaptedness of these means to the 
great end. Amongst the modes of applying these means, no one is 
more prominent, than institutions of learning like the one whose re- 
vival and progress we rejoice in to-day. It is then a mat-ter of pro- 
foundest moment, whether this Colle"-e shall flourish, and aid in car- 
rying out the glorious designs of the fathers, who planted free prin- 
ciples upon these western shores, or whether it shall linger in bare 
existence, or perish from self-exhaustion. 

By the generous interposition of the Commonwealth, and by the 

2 



10 

yet more generous and energetic efforts of those private individuals 
who have come munijScently to the help of this languishing Institu- 
tion, in the time of its utmost need, Amherst College stands before 
the community reassured ; reinvested with ample endowments for 
blessing the community ; and we fully believe, fortified in their hearts, 
affections, and prayers. The noble-spirited donors, to whom I have 
referred, do not need that their names should be distinctly herald- 
ed on this occasion. No public blazonry here can add to the renown 
which arises from the consciousness of being instrumental in the 
hands of an over-ruling Providence, in advancing the cause of relig- 
ion and knowledge among men. They need no letters of commenda- 
tion from us. Theirs be that ancient compliment, of unequalled force, 
beauty, and delicacy, and with vehement feeling be it applied, " Ye, 
are our epistles, written in our hearts, known and read of all men." 

But there is a thank-offering, which we cannot fail to make here, 
now, and at all times, and in the most distinct and emphatic manner, 
to that Divine Being, whose Providence is over all, and in whom, un- 
der all circumstances, in the darkest periods of the College, its guar- 
dians have reposed unfaltering trust. Be it ever the eminent dis- 
tinction of this Institution, that here is its strong hold. If to instruct 
the understanding, to purify the heart, to elevate the character, to 
make man wiser and better, and to contribute towards fitting him for 
the enjoyments of a higher and holier, an immortal existence, be the 
great and true design of such an Institution, then in whom can all 
hopes center but in Him, whose " word is very pure, — the entrance O'f 
whose words giveth light ; it giveth understanding to the simple." 

Influenced by these emotions, and actuated, we trust, by generous 
impulses, and by motives bearing no stain of selfishness or sordidness^ 
we have come up hither to mingle our congratulations with the friends 
of the College, on the changed aspect of its affairs and prospects. And 
why is it that we rejoice that this Seminary has found favor with the 
intelligent, affluent, and far sighted, who have been the agents in dis- 
pelling the gloom, that hung over it for so long a period ? why has 
this day of jubilee been set apart? It is not merely that the Institu- 
tion is relieved from its financial embarrassments, eased of that bur- 
den of debt, which had nearly pressed it down to the dust, and escaped 
from an incessant drain of its resources, energies, and vitality. It is not, 
much as that is, that a feeling of self-respect is, if it be not right to say 
restored, certainly invigorated and animated. It is not, still more, 
that the accomplished and faithful corps of instmctors are permitted 



11 

once more to breathe the air of freedom, and to break away from a 
position, which was compelling them, from a stern and noble sense of 
duty, to do an act of unquestioned injustice to themselves. Much as 
there is in all this to cause rejoicing, yet this might be consistent with 
selfish designs and motives of personal ambition. Why then do we 
rejoice ? Do I utter a sentiment, which does not find a response in 
the heart of every one who hears me, when I say, that we rejoice be- 
cause we now stand upon a vantage ground, which enables us with 
an erect front, and with a humble trust in God, to go forward in the 
work of doing good, with the assured hope, that the fruits of that work 
will be seen in the blessings conferred upon the community, in the 
church and in the state ? This I nstitution might, at the lowest ebb of its 
affairs, have been abandoned ; and all connected with it might have 
betaken themselves to other and perhaps wider fields of action and of 
enterprise : the dimmed star might have gone out in utter darkness ; 
but who, of all associated in its management, could have looked back 
upon that darkness with an untroubled conscience ? Who, possessing 
the heart of a man, or the soul of a christian, could have incurred, or 
shared in, the responsibility of so disastrous a result ? But what 
prevented that result, — a result not inconsistent with the highest char- 
acter of ordinary worldliness, — what prevented that result ? I appeal 
to the late Head of the college, — " clarum et venerahile nomen ;" I ap- 
peal to the present Head of the College and his worthy associates : 
I appeal to the Board of Trustees, for the truth of what I say, that 
nothing prevented that result but an unwavering trust in God. And 
I do not hesitate to take this public occasion to express my own grate- 
ful sense of tire privilege of being permitted to see, — may it be that 
I have felt also, — and now to bear witness to, the beauty, the calm- 
ness, and the power of that trust. 

Amherst College is then once more, what it was originally designed 
to be, a school of all good learning, and linked to all the purposes of 
good to a great and flourishing community. What a beautiful illus- 
tration is here of the true principles of a just Public Economy. The 
industry, and skill, and sagacity, which have been faithfully and ju- 
diciously applied to the accumulation of private wealth, now pour 
back their varied generous contributions for the improvement, the re- 
finement, and the adornment of that land, which has been at once the 
scene and the witness of these noble aims and efforts. Here indeed 
is the whole science of what is improperly called Political Economy 
presented in all its practical bearings, and in its fullest length and 



12 

breadth. Individual fortunes created by well-directed individual en- 
ergies ; and then distributed for individual and social welfare, and to 
build up the intellectual, moral, and religious character of the com- 
munity ! And see too, in this important connection, how far the prin- 
ciples of this noble science, when rightly viewed, are carried out. 
Are these public-spirited individuals, who thus by the power of money 
give vitality to a dormant institution, alone illustrating and acting up- 
on these principles ? They are adding largely, it is true, to the pub- 
lic wealth : but where and what is the institution itself, which they 
lift up from the dust ? Where are the instructors, and what are they 
doing, who take charge of the minds that are brought together through 
the impulse communicated by these material means and products, — 
the contributions of these donors ? In moulding, deciphering, and 
drawing out the power of these minds, are they not adding, and to an 
extent not to be measured, to the wealth, the intellectual not less than 
the material resources, of the community ? Tlie technical science, as 
it has been and still is taught amongst us, makes the one of these 
classes the contributor to public wealth, and not the other. Surely, 
surely, it is not so. And it is the highest distinction, which wealth, 
strictly so called, can gather around itself, that it does give the im- 
pulse, of which 1 speak, and which we all this day feel. The love of 
money, by that authority which is supreme, has been called the root 
-of all e?iil : under the chasteninoj and sfuidinor influences of that Pow- 
■er which makes this declaration, money may be made and is made the 
root, the impulse of all good. What a glory encircles material wealth, 
when it moves the world in the path of advancement and improve- 
ment, and in all the ways and arts of peace ! But what untold and in- 
conceivable horrors cluster around it, when used, as the history of the 
world assures us it has been used, to promote the purposes of private 
discord and public war ! I honor the men : I know no language 
strong or glowing enough to express the feelings with which I honor 
the men, who contribute of their wealth to bless their country and to 
bless the world. Be it, that the world is at last awakening universally 
to the true use of weal h, and to the true end in the pursuit of it. 
Thus appropriated, w. alth partakes of the quality, which the great 
poet attributes to mercy, " it blesseth him that gives, and him that 
takes." 

The Saviour of mankind, at that interesting moment, — the most in 
teresting in the whole current of time, — when he ascended from earth 
;to Heaven, uttered his final farewell message to the world, that sol- 



13 

emn injunction, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to 
•every creature." Where is the mind that has ever yet taken in the 
full import of this startling message. What mind can go to the extent 
of its requirements, or can contemplate the means necessary to its ac- 
complishment. It carries us back to man fallen from his original high 
estate, to man debased by bad passions, untoward appetites, sensual 
propensities ; to man, in a word, imbued and incrusted with ignor- 
ance and sin. Where is the power that can make its way to the 
mind, the soul, the heart, and find them in a proper condition to re- 
ceive the message of which I speak, the words of divine truth ? The 
power of God can do it ; but liberal are the human means, that are 
to be instrumental to this vast purpose, with the superadded aid of 
Him who is above ? Two thousand years ago the injunction of the 
Great Teacher was delivered to the world. .And up to this moment 
what effects have followed ? How, for nearly" twenty centuries, has 
this injunction been obeyed ; and what is the obedience, w^hich, in the 
very time that is passing, is rendered to it ? Is there less ignorance 
now, less debasement, less sensuality, less sin ? Is there less scope for 
the operation of that injunction ? What has the power of education 
been doing in this long interval, — and what is it now doing ? Who 
has been adequately enforcing the power of Christianity ? Education 
a»d Christianity are the great agents for the redemption of the world, 
disclosed in the valedictory of the Saviour. And where, through the 
sixty generations that have risen, acted, and gone, have been the sil- 
ver and the gold, the material wealth of the world, the elements and 
the sinews of its power? How have they been applied, — to bless or 
to curse the race, — to minister to the improvement of man or to his 
destruction, — to subserve the great purposes of existence, to develope 
the divinity within us, or to feed and pamper the selfish, the sordid, 
the devilish ? Again and again, I ask, how has the word of God 
been obeyed, " Go ye into all the world." That word has reference 
to man's higher nature : and has not man's higher nature been almost 
universally overlooked ; and has not his animal nature been as univer- 
sally cared for, cherished and indulged ? 

Believe not, that I am endeaN oring to divert your attention from 
the goodly purpose, which has brought you together to-day. You are 
here to rejoice that the intellectual and moral armory of this College, 
is refurnished with the equipments of education, with the means of 
doing something to bless the world, and to improve the condition of 
man ; and that this has been done through the instrumentality of 



those, who, whilst dealing with the material, have not forgotten the 
, immortal ; whose minds have taken liberal and christian views ; 
whose hearts have been expanded with benevolence, and whose souls 
are the abode of what forms the " hiding of their power," love to 
their fellow men. Behold then the field. Remember the injunction 
"Go ye into all the world." Look to the breaking down of the strong 
holds of all that is evil ; look to the building up of all that can ce- 
ment and fortify the manly, the intellectual, the moral, the spiritual. 
Behold the field. That field is to be won alone by the holy alliance 
of education and Christianity. We have heard of holy alliances 
formed for the maintenance, by war and bloodshed, of the balance of 
political power Let the world gather together to an alliance that 
shall establish a balance of moral power through the infiuence of that 
blessed anthem, which for almost two thousand years has been trod- 
den under foot, — "peace on earth and good will toman." Education 
is the means to be used as the pioneer in this great and noble work. 
Education uniibrmly opens the way to Christianity. They are one 
and indivisible. 

And now I say to the patrons and instructors of this youthful and 
vigorous institution, behold your commission. Divine in its origin, 
beneficent in its purpose, it reaches to all the wants of man. I would 
gladly, if I could, impress upon all, the extent and importance of this 
vast enterprise. It is because I totally distrust my ability to do so, 
that I present to you the words of Him, who spoke as never man 
spoke. I urge it upon you as the great thesis, which should engage 
earnestly your best thoughts. It is a common topic to dw^ell upon 
the value of education ; but is it felt by any of us in all its vastness ? 
I am fully persuaded, that even in this land, we are barely beginning 
to appreciate it. Here in this college is a central point, from which 
a true and fervent spirit on this subject should go forth ;— and that with 
renewed and redoubled energy. The business of this place is educa- 
tion, in one of its leading and most important departments The first 
great purpose of education here must ever be, to train and discipline 
the mind, and to invigorate its powers for active and efficient effort to 
teach it to think, and to act on other minds, with distinctness, direct- 
ness, and point. Looking at ourselves in a national light, we are most 
unconscionably a talking people. It will not be regarded I am sure, 
as libellous on my part to affirm, that a very large proportion of what 
is said amongst us, I mean on public occasions and in public deliber- 
ative assemblies, is said to no good purpose, and this for want of terse- 



15 

ness, conciseness, energy, and pith. We are in the habit of coveting; 
too much ground. The point aimed at, is lost sight of in the dust 
and smoke and din of the warfare of words. I will not speak here 
of the College or of its habits of study ; but in after life, when dis- 
tracting cares and anxieties and multifarious concerns invade the mind 
and disturb its quiet, the faculty of attention in too many cases ceases 
to be cultivated ; and hence comes invariably the result I have just 
indicated. I single out the faculty of attention from the rest of the 
mental powers, because, in my own observation, I have been in the 
habit of tracing failures to produce results aimed at, to the want or the 
abandonment of cultivation here, more than to any other cause ; and be- 
cause such is the tendency amongst us to strive after the accomplish- 
ment of a multiplicity of purposes, that failure must necessarily en- 
sue, unless this important faculty be sedulously and steadfastly train- 
ed and cherished. Here is the place, in the department of education 
pursued here, to establish this faculty, in its entire strength and su- 
premacy, in the position which belongs to it. Let not only this and 
all the other powers of the mind be duly disciplined here ; but let the 
importance of maintaining them in their appropriate discipline in af- 
ter life, be earnestly and constantly enforced and a great leading pur- 
pose of education will be fully carried out. 

Another prominent design of education here is, to imbue the mind 
with sound principles, with just, noble, and generous sentimeats, and 
with all the varied resources of a cultivated intellect. Intelligence 
acquired, and made the subject of thoughtful investigation, under the 
guidance of that training already spoken of, fits the man to start fa- 
vorably in the race for usefulness. But alas ! what counteracting ten- 
dencies and forces are to be met, resisted, and vanquished, before the 
race is more than fairly entered upon ! Indolence, the love of pleasure, 
the love of distinction too, the indulgence of vanity and self sufficien- 
cy, eagerness to jump to conclusions, to gain the goal by an electric 
stride, — these all are sore combatants, — too often victorious over all op- 
position. How necessary, then, that a calm and resolute spirit should 
here be infused ! and how can this be done effectually but by implant- 
ing a deep sense of accouatability to God for the use of all the pow- 
ers, and for the diligent improvement of all means and appointments, 
— the value of time, the claims of duty, a heedful submission to all the 
monitions of conscience. When we look at education in this light, 
we are constrained ever to regard it as only begun, never finished, and 
never on this side of the grave to be finished. 



IG 

In reference to tlie sentiments, witli which the mind should be im- 
bued, those especially which partake of the character of manliness 
and generosity, very greatly to be lamented is it, that the ancient clas- 
sic authors have fallen so extensively into disuse. They are to be 
regarded, and probably ever will be so, as models of taste. In no 
way can the intellect be so thoroughly adorned and cultivated as by 
giving days and nights of patient toil to the mastery of the purer pro- 
ducts of Grecian and Roman mind. The system of study, amid the 
groves and walks of the ancient Academia, is unknown to us with 
anything like accuracy : but we do know enough to be assured, that 
the education of a few minds was carried to such a pains taking point 
of perfcuition, that belief would be severely taxed but for the results 
and fruits, which have come down to us. Singularly adapted to us as 
citizens of a great Republic are these remains of antiquity, abound- 
ing, as they do indeed abound, with the development and investiga- 
tion of free principles, dressed in a drapery of surpassing beauty, and 
enunciated with chaste and invigorated eloquence, they are amongst the 
peerless treasures of the world. The views which they present of 
liberty are of liberty at once chastened and regulated. The study of 
the great Orators of antiquity would put an effectual check upon lib- 
erty running madly into licentiousness, and upon the wantonness that 
makes the demagogue. To these evils we are singularly exposed ; 
they are increasing and extending amongst us with a virulence, that 
indicates deep seated disease. Where can a more effectual remedy 
be found than in the revived study of those models of pure taste and 
refined sentiment, which the ancient classics afford ? The time may 
have gone by for the application of any hopeful remedy : the infusion 
perhaps pervades the mass too intimately to be extracted or neutral- 
ized. The language and the thoughts of our public men in many 
parts of the land bear marks, not to be mistaken, of this type of dis- 
ease : but here, in our own New England, let us hope that the evil 
may be checked in its progress and averted. A taste for this branch of 
study must be encouraged and cherished in the College and by the ex- 
ample and counsels of the friends of pure learning amongst us, or 
we shall be overrun with literary Mormonism. The decay of true 
taste will necessarily be accompanied by a decay of just and true sen- 
timent ; and all purity will come to be regarded as affectation and 
pretension. To him, who ministers at the altars of a pure and unde- 
filed religion I need not urge the importance of these considerations. 
I bespeak only the influence of his unvarying example. Let not the 



17 

study of the classics be confined to the College. There is indeed it^ 
appropriate sphere : there the love of it should be nurtured and es- 
tablished. But let it go, with all who are imbued with it, through 
life. Let each succeeding day have a portion however limited, given 
to this delightful and important purpose. Were this the proper oc- 
casion, and were there time, for a full defence of the study of the an- 
cient classics, I would gladly advert to several other kindred topics : 
I would especially say something of that cheap literature, which has 
come in upon us like a flood, answering no purpose but to cheapen 
and debase the character of all who venture upon its polluted waters. 
Purified, thorough, systematic general education must be the barrier 
against this threatening inundation. The heads and the hearts of our 
youth must be shielded here and all around by those who stand upon 
the watch-tower. 

I have a word to say of a study eminently appropriate to the Col- 
lege, inexpressibly important to those who live in the light of free in- 
stitutions, — I mean the study of the Bible. I do not speak here of 
that highest use of the Bible, to which the humble and reverent chris- 
tian is accustomed, as the w^ay, the truth, and the life ; as opening the 
consummations of happiness and holiness in another world. I speak 
of it as a divine study indeed, but as applicable to human purposes. 
The Bible contains the best code of Republican principles, which has 
ever been furnished to man from any source. Take the history of 
the Hebrew Commonwealth and the precepts of freedom, which are 
scattered in great profusion over the pages of the New Testament, 
and you have all that is necessary to assure to man the enjoyment of 
a well regulated liberty and of well balanced institutions. But you 
have something more, infinitely more important than even this. You 
have in the Bible the only means, by which man can- be enabled to 
render himself fit and worthy permanently to maintain free institu- 
tions. The power of human passion, in the ten thousand forms in 
which it is accustomed to show itself, constitutes the deadliest foe to 
political liberty ; and in the past history of the world has uniformly 
conducted liberty to its grave. The Bible points out the only way, 
in which this power of human passion, essentially and otherwise in- 
curably selfish, can be checked and controlled. We are witnesses in 
our day of the efforts, honest and well meaning undoubtedly, that have 
been made and are still making, to overcome the evils that thwart the 
progress of liberty^ and render its blessings so extensively unavaila- 
ble. What are the various social systems, and systems of separate 
communities, that have risen, flourished for a brief space, and then 



18 

have rapidly declined and decayed ? They have only served to 'sliow, 
that a better way is needed, without being able to indicate what that 
better way is. What are all the attempts made and making in France 
to regulate labor, and to place it upon a basis consistent v/ith the prin- 
ciple of freedom, and which threaten a disruption of the political fab- 
ric now rising up amid the quicksands of that heaving and agitated 
land ? What are all the movements, the world over, which are strain- 
ing so many minds and hearts after a foundation for liberty to stand 
upon ? They are all but the " experimentum crucis ;'' they are 
putting man's intellect to its last and severest test to find a foothold 
for freedom around and within the vortex of human passion. They 
are the futile attempts " eriperc sceptnim tyrannis," without the 
" fulmen coelo." Had that divine message, to which I have before 
alluded, which the Saviour gave to man, been inscribed upon the world's 
banner, and formed the steady motive to human effort ; instead of twenty 
centuries of war and desolation intervening, we should now be wit- 
nesses of a glorious exhibition of man, on every portion of earth's 
surface, standing erect in that liberty with which Heaven maketh free. 
Those illustrious men, whose lives can never be enough studied and 
commemorated, who founded these States more than two centuries ago, 
fleeing from civil and religious oppression, brought with them hither 
the great and true principle of liberty. Their noble minds grasped 
the truth in all its comprehensiveness ; for they planted themselves 
Bpon the platform of freedom divine. What a debt of gratitude, under 
God, do we owe to the Puritans. Not a day nor an hour do I live 
without an increased admiration of their character, their sagacity, 
their honesty, their power. If ice enjoy liberty in any measure ap- 
proaching to purity, to the Puritans and to the principles of the Puri- 
tans, we owe it. These principles were imbedded in the deep yet 
transparent truths of the Bible. " Let nothing be done through strife 
or vain glory ; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better 
than themselves." — " Look not every man on his own things, but 
every man also on the things of others." Try all the schemes of Re- 
publican liberty by this test, and the reason why they have failed alto- 
gether, or have not answered fully the goodly purposes intended or aim- 
ed at, will be at once apparent. Let the Bible be studied as the true 
text book of Republicanism. Let christian liberty be the liberty we 
seek to establish. No other will sustain us. No other has in it any 
such sustaining power. The Bible alone teaches us that all men are 
free, not nominally but really free : it teaches us also how to treat all 
others as being free. It implants the disposition to regard others not 



19 

less tlian ourselves. " He that ruletli over men must be just, ruling 
in tlie fear of God." Does any human code embrace such a maxim 
as this ? Is this any ^vhere made the practical test in the selection of 
rulers among men ? Until it is so, will there ever be a sound, well 
regulated liberty ? " Do unto others as ye would that others should 
do unto you." Let such a maxim as this actuate the hearts of a peo- 
ple, and the choice of rulers would be " an end of all strife." 

I dwell not upon the other numerous practical purposes, to which 
the study of the Bible may be applied. I offer what has now been 
said, simply as a specimen of those purposes. I do not deem it ne- 
cessar}', nor, were it so, have I the command of time, to enter upon 
farther remarks upon the course of study appropriate to this place. 
These remarks are all of a general and practical nature. I go not 
into the consideration of systems or modes of study. I desire only to 
express my own conviction, that education in all its departments 
should be adapted to the times in which we live^ I have spoken par- 
ticularly of the great principle of freedom, to the developement, op- 
erations, and bearings of which so much of thought and investigation 
is now given almost universally amongst men. This must long con- 
tinue to be the leading topic with all minds, so far as we can form 
any definite judgment of the aspect of human affairs. All things are 
m(?st evidently tending to a great conflict, in which the prominent ele- 
ment must be the poAver of Christianity, — the pure and humble faith 
and practice of the Bible. Tliis conflict I do not pretend to present 
as a new one. Ages ago it was commenced. Often has it been car- 
ried on with energy ; oftener has the progress of the great principles 
contended for, been retarded and arrested. War has been the lead- 
ing obstacle, giving strength to the arm of despotism, and crushing in 
its march every germ of freedom. The generation that is passing, — 
those who have lived and acted during any considerable portion of 
the last thirty years, all wlio can look back with fresh thoughts to the 
battle of Waterloo, — these have grown up to the glorious prerogative 
and inheritance of peace. And it is under the influence of a thirty 
year's peace, that the world is now assuming to speak, l^his period 
has been m.arked by the power of thought, — by the power of educa- 
tion, — by the power of benevolence, — to sum up all, by the spreading 
power of Christianity. The power of education especially, in some 
one or other of its multifarious forms, has every where planted itself. 
It has almost throughout the world begun its work. What are the 
great associations for purposes of philanthropic effort, which stud ths 
circle that arches the limits of the present generation, but so many 



20 

ficliools of practical wisdom, shedding tbeir blessings and their light 
wherever there is darkness to be dispelled, wherever there is a hu- 
man heart to be reached ? What are those Missionary Stations, that 
now dot the surface of the earth, so that day after day, as the hours 
and minutes pass, one uninterrupted voice of supplication ascends 
from them to God for his blessing upon the w^ayward children of men, 
— what are these but so many schools of divinest philosophy ? This 
goodly heritage, which man possesses, is every where traversed by 
the sons and the daughters of a holy and life-giving philanthropy, 
bearing the means and appliances to elevate the race from debase- 
ment and ignorance to knowledge and holiness. The Bible ! who can 
comprehend the achievements it has made in the new forms which 
have been given to it only during the generation, that has not yet 
quitted the scenes of active life? These are some of the elements 
which enter into the conflict of which I have spoken ; these are the 
weapons, with which it is to be carried on. Education and Christi- 
anity ? what an impulse are they giving to men's minds ! They are 
rapidly shifting that balance of power, which has so long stood in- 
trenched by bayonets and gunpowder. They are loosening the hold of 
governments upon the people, because brute force can no longer keep 
mind in its chains. And if thus much has been accomplished under 
the influences of peace, and with the slight aid which has as yet be*en 
offered by education and Christianity, what may we not expect, when 
this great combination of power shall have given, as with the blessing 
of God it soon will give, the entire ascendancy to educated mind and 
cultivated heart, and when man shall ever be free ! This is the con- 
flict, which the w^orld has now entered upon ; and the means I have 
described are the means by which it is to be conducted, and by which 
the triumph is to be insured. 

Now then is the time for those who have anything to do with edu- 
cation, to put themselves to the work with unwonted earnestness. 
Let it be felt as the great leading interest of the world, — as that on 
which, in God's Providence, man's destiny hangs. I repeat it, that 
we cannot dissever education and Christianity. There may indeed be 
the one without the other. But malign in the extreme must ever be 
the influences of intellect, unsubdued, unchastened, unsanctified, and 
therefore aiming only at selfish purposes, cold, cheerless and heart- 
less in all its associations. This is not the intellect that can redeem 
the world from any of its evils. Of such intellect, there have been 
abundant specimens: that which shone with such terrific lustre ante- 
rior to, and during the earlier stages of the flrst French Revolution, 



21 

may have been permitted by Heaven as a warning, tliat true reform 
can never come from such a quarter. 

Let there be felt in this College, under the new and encouraging 
prospects that opens before it, a fervid educational spirit. Let this 
spirit be greatly, constantly cherished. It should never be regarded 
as sufficient, that ample justice is done in the way of instruction, to 
ingenuous youth, who come to these Halls to be prepared for the or- 
dinary business and conflicts of life. Aside from this, vastly and pre- 
eminently important as it is to become deeply versed in all the learn- 
ing of the usual Collegiate course, there should be superadded a full 
and faithful view of the pressing demand which the country and the 
world now have upon the sons to do, what the fathers have left un- 
done. The world has long been slumbering, or has been active, main- 
ly, for evil ; and difficult indeed has it been to induce the educated to 
enter into the field of conflict, where discouragements were present- 
ing themselves at every turn. Now there is work on all sides to be 
done : man is every where to be educated and christianized. The great 
barriers that have paralized effort and impeded progress, have been 
forced through, and the pathway is open from sea to sea, — from conti- 
nent to continent, — from land's end to land's end. Behold wherever 
the sun shines and the rain descends, fields ready for the seed, — the 
seed of human knowledge, — the seed of divine cultivation. In time 
past colleges have been the resort of not a few, who have been known, 
recognized, and only not absolutely encouraged as drones in the hive. 
Time was, that the public mind identified an idle life and a life in a 
College. Let it be understood, — that is too feeble a word, — let it be 
felt and seen, that that time has gone by. Enerje'ic and whole-hearted 
work is now demanded of all. Remember the commission, — Go ye 
into all the world. Improve the condition of man. Wherever there 
may be forlornness and sorrow, administer consolation : wherever de- 
pression and poverty, lend a helping hand : wherever there is a sin, 
invade it, — probe it, — gently but eff'ectually : wherever there is igno- 
rance, enlighten it. In that vast duty of infusing the element of 
Christianity into the principle of freedom, let there here be taken high 
ground. We stand within the atmosphere of the ancient Puritan- 
ism : let us not be heedless of its glories ; let us not be faithless to the 
trust it devolves upon us, — heightened as that trust is by all that we 
see around us. 

But I must quit these animating topics, and draw towards a con- 
/jlusion. 

Let me say in view of what has been uttered, to the patrons, 



22 

the benefactors of tiils college, Low opportune, Low Providen- 
tial Lave been tlieir benefactions. At no moment could generosity 
Lave been more strikingly exLibited : at no moment could tliis col- 
lege Lave been rendered more eminently capable of good. Receive 
into true Leartsthe gratitude, wLicL, we trust, flows from trueLearts. 
Be tLe obligations unceasingly appreciated and lived up to, wLicL 
now rests upon those wLo Lave any part in tLe management of tlie 
aifairs of tLe College. Let all remember wLat is due to tLe benefac- 
tors, wLat is due to tLemselves, wLat is due to tlie youtli avLo come 
here, wLat is due to tLe country, to tlie world, and to God. 

Mr. President, and Gentlemen of tlie Board of Trustees, — I Lave 
now discLarged, in Lowever imperfect a manner, tLe duty devolved 
upon me by your appointment. I Lave communicated to tLe benefac- 
tors and friends of tLe College, tLe expression of your tLanks and 
gratitude. We enter now upon new scenes. TLe waning fortunes 
of tLis Institution, Lave for years brougLt to our Learts gloom, des- 
pondency, almost despair. Heaven again beams upon us witL bless- 
ings. To Heaven let us not cease to oifer tlie incense of tLanksgiv- 
ing. Nor would we fail to recognize and to be grateful for tbe benefi- 
cence of our ancient CommonwealtL. Blessings ever crown Ler. 
SLe Las acted up to a noble obligation. "\Ye read tLe language sLe 
Las placed in Ler Constitution — " It sLall be tLe duty of legislatures 
and magistrates, in all future periods of tliis CommonwealtL, to clier- 
isL tlie interests of literature and tLe tLe sciences, and all seminaries 
of tLem ; to countenance and inculcate tLe principles of Lumanity and 
general benevolence, public and private cLarity, industry and frugali- 
ty, Lonesty and punctuality ; sincerity, good Lumor, and all social af- 
fections, and generous sentiments among tlie people " Noble, noble 
sentiments ! Long may tliey be remembered and cLerisLed ! Never 
may tliey be forgotten by tlie CommonwealtL, — tlie FatLers, tLe sons, 
iLe cliildren, tLe cLiklreii's cLildren, — to tlie latest generation ! We 
render our tLankfiilness and gratitude to all our benefactors. We 
leave beLind us tlie niglit of gloom tLrougli wLicli we Lave passed. 
We receive tlie College into tLe fellowsLip of new and animated Lopes. 
TLe massive structures, upon wliicli are inscribed tLe names of 
tLe generous donors, rising up in tlie midst of tLis landscape, 
— tliese Lills and vallies, — of unsurpassing grandeur and beauty, 
— are now dedicated to tLe cause of science and trutli. Long, ever 
may tliey stand tlius dedicated. Here may science remain tributary 
to virtue, freedom, religion. Here may tLerc be inscribed on all tLese 
walls and in every Leart," — Christo et ccclesice." 



ADDRESSES AT THE PUBLIC DINiNER. 



After the preceding addresses were delivered in the Chapel, an in- 
vitation was given to the audience to examine the new Edifice and the 
Collections in Natural History. Subsequently a large number of gen- 
tlemen and ladies partook of a dinner at the public house, when a 
number of letters from persons invited, who were not present, were 
read, and several gentlemen were introduced by the President and 
responded in sentiments too interesting to be lost* They are given 
below as far as possible, witlioiit attempting to follow the precise order 
in which they were introduced. 

The President first referred to Hon. "William B. Calhoun, and 
said : 'We have seen him in various stations and relations : noAv as 
Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives : now in the 
Plalls of Congress : now as President of the Massachusetts Senate: 
now as Secretary of the Commonwealth : now as the zealous agricul- 
turalist : and to-day as the scholar and elegant orator ; and in all of 
these stations we can say of him, ' Nihil tetif/it, quod non ornavit.'' 

Mr Calhoun replied, by expressing his sincere thanks for the kind manner in" 
which his address had been received; and testified anew to the deep interest he 
felt in whatever might contribute to the prosperity of the College, and the well be- 
ing of the dwellers in this noble valley, where it is situated. 

Lest it should seem to the readers of this pamphlet, tliat the noble' 
and self-denying men who laid the foundations of the College were 
forgotten on this occasion, it is proper to say, that the following re- 
marks were intended to introduce the only two surviving Trustees^ 
who have held that office from the beginning, and who were expected 
to be present, viz : Rev. Dr. John Fiske and Rev. Joseph Vaill. 

Of the fourteen Trustees of this College vrho began to 1 uild it in 
1821, with Dr. Moore as President, only two survive, and I am hap- 
py to see them both present to-day. One of them Mr. Vaill has been 



24 

a Trustee ever since ; ancl both of them are able to say of all the im- 
portant events in the history of the College, quorum pars fui. We 
hope, therefore, that they will give us some idea of the sacrifices and 
labors which have been necessary to sustain and carry forward the 
Institution, and bear testimony to the character of the venerable men, 
of whom we can say, — 'Honor to the memory of those who laboured 
and suffered and prayed so much for us ! 

Another of the Trustees, who was present, was then called upon. 

We are happy to see among us a member of the Board of Trustees, 
who has been for several years absent, not only from this place, but 
from the country. I hope he will let us know whether his foreign 
tour has diminished his I'espect for, and sense of the value of, the insti- 
tutions of New England. I would welcome Governor Armstrong to 
a place, where, in past time, he has so often offered his counsel and 
aid. 

Governor Armstrong replied as follows : 

Mr. President : — 

I thank you for the kindness t^'hich has induced you to apologize for my absence 
from Amherst for scver;il years past, by alluding to my recent voyage to Europe. 
But you will pardon me if I decline the invitation to narrate at this time to this 
audience, any of the trifling incidents Avhich befel me on that voyage. Suffice it 
that I have returned to our own country with unabated attachment, and with una- 
bated confidence in its institutions. There we see palaces for the nobles ; liere we 
have scliool houses for the people. There we see temples, and ceremonies, and 
priests in long garments. Here we have village temples, the Sabbath bell, and th« 
New England pastor. 

I thank you for the opportunity of participating in the scenes of this joyous day, 
and of mingling my congratulations with all tlio friends of Amherst College in 
view of its present condition and its future prospects. I rejoice particularly in the 
spirit which has pervaded all the exercises on this occasion. It augurs good 
things. The founders and benefactors of this seminary sought to establish here 
a college for the people; where in present and in after times should be reared u-p 
men of sense and men of piety, to propagate at home and on foreign shores the 
jyrinciples of the gospel. It was in their hearts that this college should be for 
Christ and the church. May this hope never be disappointed. 

Let religion and science, piety and knowledge, go together. "VVhilo the moun- 
tains and the mines reveal to your eager researches their history and their treas- 
ures, may unsurpassing diligence be manifested in working that Mine from which 
is obtained " durable riches," and in diving into those depths from which is drawn 
the pearl of great price. 

Who does not rejoice to behold the beautiful structure which crowns one of 
your beautiful hilh, who of us does not heartily approve of the purposes to which 
it is devoted ! yet Sir, I trust you will allow me to express the hope that while 
your pupils gaze with wonder upon the works of the Lord, in the mechaiiism of 



25 

the heavens ; while they admire the glorious lights that malce known the depths 
of space, they may never, no never, neglect to meditate with love and gratitude 
upon the Star of Bethlehem. 

A letter from Dr. Humphrey gave rise to this introduction : 
In this letter we have the fundamental principles on which the 
College was founded, viz : trust in God, and a benevolent regard for 
man ; and also its leading object, viz. : to prepare men for usefulness 
by thorough literary discipline. Nothing but such principles and 
such an object, could have carried Dr. Humphrey, and the Trustees 
associated with him, through the many trying exigencies of the firsfc 
twenty years of the College. Let the time never come, when their 
successors shall swerve from these principles, or the noble example 
that has been set before them ! 

PiTTSFiELD, June 16, 1848. 
Rev. Dr. Hitchcock, — Dear Sir: 

I hasten to acknowledge your kind invitation to meet the friends and patrons of 
Amherst College, on the 28th inst., for the purposes mentioned in your note. It 
will, I am sure, be an exceedingly interesting occasion ; and I should love to par- 
ticipate in the greetings and congratulations, in the midst of which so many hearts 
will leap for joy. 

" The Lord hath done great things for"' Amherst College, "whereof we are'glad." 
He hath remembered it in its low and embarrassed state, and raised up friends 
for its effectual relief. First of all, our fervent thanksgivings are due to Him, 
whose are the silver and the gold ; and then, our grateful acknowledgments, to the 
stewards, who, with his high approbation, I nothing doubt, have contributed so lib- 
erally, to place the institution on a stable foundation. 

Though I cannot be present in person, my heart will be with you. " It is a 
gooi thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to talk of all his wondrous Avorks." 
The foundations of Amherst College were laid in prayer and faith; and how 
Avould those good men, its earliest and fastest friends, who have departed, rejoice 
with those who survive, could they come back and. witness " Avhat God hath 
wrought." 

Their aim was, to build up an institution for the church, " upon the foundation 
of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone," and we 
believe that God heard their prayer. " Other safer foundation can no man lay," 
and from this may it never be shaken. 

May a double portion of that wisdom which is from above, be imparted to its 
trustees and teachers ; may the rain of righteousness descend upon it, as in years 
that are past, and still more copiou-sly. May the streams which flow from it, not 
only make glad the cities of our God at home; but continue to flow into the parch- 
ed places of the wilderness, till every land sliall be watered, " from the river of God, 
which is full of water." With my best regards to the Gentlemen who have " built 
you a synagogue" and who are coming to dedicate it, 
I am respectfully yours, 

H. Humphrey, 
4 



2C 

A letter was next read from a former graduate, with a few prefa- 
tory remarks : 

Of the Alumni of this College she can say, as the noble yet not afflu- 
ent mother once did of her sons, " these are my jewels." One of these 
who left us twenty-four years ago, and whose name is familiar to the 
savans of Europe as well as of this country, we had hoped to see here 
to-day. But in his absence I know that you will be glad to hear 
from Dr. Bela B. Edwards. 

Andover, June, 26, 1848. 
Rev. President Hitchcock,--Dear Sir : 

It is -with sincere regret that I must decline yotir kind invitation tobQ present on 
Wednesday. Indispensable engagements will detain me here. In common with 
multitudes I rejoice that you have been so favored in the Providence of God as to 
finish your edifice and fill it with such inestimable treasures. Nothing could be 
more appropriate than such a collection in the Connecticut valley, so full of beauty, 
so crowded with visible and tangible proof of Divine wisdom, where the natural 
sciences can be studied under such preeminent advantages. I rejoice, also, from 
my belief that these studies are specially fitted to liberalize the mind and bind to- 
gether the scholars of our country and of all nations. No persons in England, — 
where illiberal feelings towards us have too much prevailed, — have done more to 
cement the two countries together than the students of natural science. None 
there feel or express for us more generous and ennobling sentiments than some of 
the leading members of the Royal and the Geological Societies. One of them, be- 
fore he showed me the wonders of science which adorn his dwelling, pointed out 
what was particularly precious to him, — an admirable portrait of Prof. Silliman. 
The president of the Geological Society said in my hearing, that he honored the 
city of Boston, that it was doing more for the cause of popular education than all 
England. A third individual Avho had traveled many years in the East, remarked 
to me, that no men were more respected for their knowledge and gentlemanly 
character than American Missionaries. The principal paper read before the 
Royal Society in the evening when I was present, was written by an American 
physician on the coast of Africa. 

Any thing which removes a prejudice, or promotes a kindly feeling between us 
and our parent State, is a matter for heartfelt gratitude. England, with all her 
faults, is a noble land. No where is there so much moral worth, such attractive 
specimens of social and christian character, so much that adorns humanity. With 
England and the United States are bound up to a great degree the hopes of the 
world Long may the scholars of the two countries love and labor like brethren. 
Rich and boundless fields of knowledge are still open before them all. 

Again expresing my sorrow that I cannot be with you on Wednesday, and ho- 
ping that every auspicious circumstance may combine to render the day pleasant 
and the occasion interesting. 

I am yours very faithfully, 

B. B. Edwrads. 

P. S. When your new building for the Library is completed, — fire-proof, a fine 



27 

specimen of aichitecture, and filled with 20,000 new books, as I presume it will be, 
I will promise without fail to be present. Please inform me of the time of its ded« 
ication. 

Dr. Edwards' enquiry in his postscript was not answered at the 
time it was read : but upon longer consideration, we think it safe to 
say, that if Providence 'permit^ the new Library Building will be 
dedicated on the 4th of July, 1850 : or if necessary to delay longer, 
due notice will be given of the time. 

The Donors to the new Cabinet and Observatory, whether by 
money or specimens, were alluded to as follows : 

In St. Paul's church in London, is an inscription intended for Sir 
Christopher Wren, the famous architect, which expresses a good deal 
in a few words ; and I would apply it to those who have contributed 
to our new Cabinet and Observatory, as well as to the architect and 
the builders. Si monumentum quceris^ circumspice. 

The most munificent benefactor of the college was spoken of in the 
following manner : 

We are honored to-day by the presence of a gentleman, who, for sev- 
eral years, has been in the habit of carrying on a double system of 
manufactures. With the results of ordinary manufactures, I mean 
money, he has established other manufactories, where mind is the raw 
material, and cultivated and polished thought the finished article ; 
where our sons may become as plants, grown up in their youth^ and 
OUT daughters as corner stones polished after the similitude of a palace. 
For this invention the public voice has decreed, and the voice of 
posterity will decree, that the name of Williston shall be engraven, 
not on marble or steel, but on the grateful heart of the world. 

Mr. Williston made the following reply : 

Mr. President: 

I rise not to make a speech but to express the gratitude, which I feel for the very 
honorable mention, which has been made of my name on this occasion. I cannot 
but esteem it both a privilege, and a duty incumbent on those gentlemen, who have 
been prospered, (by the blessing of Godj, as manufacturers, or in other business 
pursuits, that they should contribute a portion of their wealth for the establishment 
of "those manufactories^' where, (as has fitly been said), "mind is the raw mate- 
rial, and polished apd cultivated thought the finished article." 

Sir, 1 feel myself most happy to meet, on this pleasant occasion, many distinguish- 
ed gentlemen from abroad, the friends of science, and of religion ; and I cannot 
fail of expressing my happiness, in meeting so many of the friends and patrons of 
Amherst College, with their wives and daughters. I cannot say, Mr. President, 
how much I am gratified, in contemplating the present and prospective prosperity 



28 

of the Institution, which I have known in its days of darkness and of poverty ', 
and to which it has been my happiness in connection with many others, to afford 
some relief. 

Sir, This l)eloved Institution was founded in prayer ; it has been blessed by 
God, with numerous revivals of religion, — it has always been, and I trust, it ever 
will be, the handmaid of sound learning and of true religion. 

The President next gave an ac^count of the circumstances that led 
him to apply to the Hon. Josiah B.Woods, to undertake the work 
of procuring funds for the Cabinet and Observatory. Mr. Woods 
finally said, " I'll try" ; as did Col. Miller, when asked whether he 
could take a post at the battle of Niagara. Both did try and suc- 
ceeded. The one strewed the ground with the dead and wounded, 
made many widows and orphans, and acquired the reputation of a 
brave soldier. The other has had the satisfaction of seeing an edi- 
fice erected and devoted to-day, with its rich contents, to the cause of 
science and religion ; and thus shall its influence be to enlighten and 
bless mankind, instead of destroying them. Who then is entitled to 
the highest honor and gratitude, the hero of Niagara, or the en- 
lightened and persevering Manufacturer of Eastern Hampshire ? I 
know who will be most honored here, and I think I know what will 
be the verdict of posterity. 

Mr. Woods responded as follows : 

Mr. President : 

I presume it will not be expected, nor do I deem it proper, under the present 
circumstances, to attempt an extended reply to the remarks by Avhich you have 
brought my name to the notice of this audience. But I feel that I should be do- 
ing great injustice to my deep sense of obligation, if I were to allow this opportun- 
ity to pass without tendering to you my sincere and hearfelt acknowledgments for 
the very kind and flattering manner in which you have been pleased to speak of 
myself and my humble efforts to promote the interests of Amherst College. 

A letter from Hon. David Sears was introduced as follows : 
In the Astronomical Observatory at Cambridge is a massive tower, 
built solid of Quincy granite, called the " Sears' Tower' ; which sus- 
tains one of the most splendid telescopes in the world. But in the 
" Sears Foundation of Literature and Benevolence" in Amherst Col- 
lege, we have a more enduring structure: "monumentum aere per- 
ennius": imo vero etiam, saxo perennius. 

Newport, R. I., Juke 20, 1848. 
JIev. Edward Hitchcock, President of Amherst College, 

Honored and Dear Sir:— I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of 



29 

your letter of the 5th instant, inviting me to visit Amherst on the 28th of June, to 
examine the new building which contains your Cabinet of Natural History, and to 
join in services appropriate to the occasion. 

I regret that circumstances oblige me to deprive myself of this pleasure. I 
should rejoice to mingle my congratulations with yours at the bright day which is 
now dawning on the College, and at the prospect of its increased usefulness. 

It is the peculiar characteristic of Massachusetts to give encouragement to learn- 
ing, and to cherish her literary Institutions. It is a sentiment which has grown 
with her growth, and strengthened with her strength, and almost marks her as a 
distinct people. From the landing of their Forefathers in 1 620, to the present day, 
her sons,— while differing on other subjects,— have thought alike on this, and they 
have reason to be proud of the result. 

The Colleges of Massachusetts are aptly called Seminaries of learning ; for by 
them the seeds of knowledge, of virtue, of morality and religion are sown broad 
cast through our land. Go where you will from Maine to Mexico, from Ohio to 
the Pacific Ocean, and much of what you find among the people that is good, and 
honest, intelligent and successful, owes its origin to the loins or education of New 
England,— and principally of Massachusetts. In my humble opinion our Colleges 
are the great conservatives of the Union, and we are deeply indebted to them for 
whatever of honest principle, and integrity of character exits among us. 

You inform me that the Trustees of Amherst College wish to take this occasion 
" to testify their gratitude to those who have recently aided them so liberally in the 
endowment of Professoships, the erection of a Cabinet of Natural History, and an 
Astronomical Observatory." 

I join with you most heartily in such a testimony. The good judgment of the 
gentlemen in selecting, and their liberality in giving to these objects, fully entitle 
them to such a mark of your attention, and I know from agreeable experience how 
ready the Trustees of Amherst are, to express the gratitude they fed, for any evi- 
dence of interest shown to their Institution. 

Especially permit me to notice the Observatory, and the liberal and enlightened 
Gentleman whose name stands the first on the list of Patrons. I trust that the 
foundation thus laid by him will hereafter sustain the instruments of modern sci- 
ence to draw from the skies a knowledge of the stars -to demonstrate to men the 
Glory of God, and the magnificence of His works,— and show to their wondering 
minds that " the thousand brilliant worlds which circle round Him, are governed 
by one law, and that in wisdom " He has made them all." 

But while the Benefactors of the College are thus honored, the Faculty of the 
College should come in for their share of gratitude. I have been a silent but not 
an inattentive observer of them. I have been informed of their devotion to their 
literary labors,-of their self-den ials,-of their voluntary surrender of a part of 
their moderate salaries,-reserving only enough for a bare subsistance,-to relieve 
the College in its necessity. Such disenterested zeal stands out brightiv, and mer- 
its an honorable record. 

I venture to conclude my answer to you. Reverend Sir, with the following sen- 
timent : Literary talent, and pecuniary abilitv, may their zeal be ever found united 
m building up the Halls of learning, and extending the altars of Religion ! 
With great respect and consideration, 

Your obedient humble servant, 

David Sears. 



30 

In like manner a letter was brought forward from Hon. Abbott 
Lawrence. 

It is said that in the city of London there are one hundred and 
twenty men by the name of John Smith : and the fact gives rise to 
numerous ludicrous and some serious mistakes in the distribution of 
letters. The family of Lawrence in Massachusetts is somewhat nu- 
merous. Yet this fact occasions but little inconvenience, so far as the 
cause of learning and benevolence is concerned. For if the letter on- 
ly reaches one of the name, it is pretty sure to result in a Scientific 
School, a Mechanics Library, a College Library Building, a Profes- 
sorship, or an Astronomical Observatory. I know you will be glad 
to hear from one of this name, whom a letter from us happened to 
reach. 

Boston, June 12, 1848. 
My Deak Sir: 

I am greatly obliged for the invitation with which you have honored me, to visit 
Amherst on the 28th inst., and regret that it will not- be in my power to be with 
you. I hope to have the satisfaction at a future time, of visiting your Institution, 
which appears to be in a prosperous condition, and destined to be the instrument 
of producing great good to our common country. I rejoice in th3 success of all 
our Institutions of learning, particularly those which have been established for the 
special object of educating a class of men at a moderate charge, who are to dis- 
pense the gospel of Jesus Christ to tlie people, and disseminate sound morals 
drawn from his teachings. I have a clear conviction, that the only security for our 
excellent form of Government, is universal education, founded upon the platform 
of the Bible. Whatever may be said of our Pilgrim Fathers, there can be no 
doubt with all their rigid views, they understood the true principles of Republican- 
ism, (all of which were taken from the fountain of wisdom) as well as the philoso- 
phers of the present day, whether on this, or the other side of the Atlantic. In the 
hope that your labors may be blessed through all time, I pray you to believe 
Dear Sir, that I remain always. 

Your friend and obedient servant, 

Abbott Lawrence. 

The following letter was received from Gerard IIallock, Esq., 
of New York, co-editor of the Journal of Commerce. 

New York, Jdne 15, 1848. 
Rev. President Hitchcock, Dear Sir: 

I did hope to be able to attend the celebration to which you kindly invite me. — 
but a sudden and dangerous illness of :ny partner, Mr. Hale, from which, however, 
he appears to be slowly recovering, will render it impossible. As I had the honor 
of holding the plough at the second ploughing of the ground preparatory to the 
erection of the first College building, ( Col. Graves held it the first time,) and as from 



81 

that day to this I have felt a deep interest in the prosperity of the Institution, I 
should sincerely rejoice to mingle my congratulations for its success, with those of 
the many respected friends who will be present on the occasion. 
With much respect, 

Yours sincerely, 

Gerard Hallock. 

In this letter we have an important development of character. 
This gentleman when young, though he might yield to age and expe- 
rience the right to turn the first furrow in founding a literary institu- 
tion, was sure to take the lead in the second ploughing. We need 
not wonder then, that in subsequent life, he has so often ploughed the 
Jirst furrow, and ploughed it deep, in many an important enterprise. 

Professor Sillimax, Senior, was thus introduced by a reference 
to his great work. 

There is a work in our country that has now completed its fifty- 
fifth volume, whose history is essentially the history of American 
Science- It has formed a rallying point for the widely scattered cul- 
tivators of American Science, and gathered fuel to keep the sacred 
fire burning upon her altar ; and the light which has emanated thence, 
has been a principal means of giving to this hemisphere the scientific 
reputation which she enjoys abroad. This work was started, and has 
been carried on, for thirty years, mainly by an individual, often at 
great personal and pecuniary sacrifice. I refer to the American 
Journal of Science and the Arts, whose fifty-five volumes you can 
see standing on yonder shelf; and what is better, we have with us to- 
day its eminent editor, Dr. Silliman, who, I would hope, will be 
willing to give us some history of his early labors and sacrifices in 
this cause ; and I know, if you look at yonder work, you will not re- 
gard it as flattery when I introduce him as the Nestor of American 
Science. 

To this call Professor Silliman replied as follows :* 

Mr President: — 

I have listened with great pleasure, to the very interesting and instructive ad- 
dresses which have been pronounced this morning, in the College Chapel. The 
orator, in his terse, lucid and sententious discourse, presented the best possible illus- 
trotion of the results of the moral and mental training and of the value of the in- 
tellectual treasures which he commended to his youthful audience ; while the grace- 
ful and beautiful response of their literary and parental head was in perfect harmo- 
ny, with the happy occasion. 

* By request, lie furnished in MS. his recollections of his impromptu remarks ; and some 
thoughts have heen added or carried out more fully than the limits of time permitted on the 
occasion. 



32 

The hospitable and wavni-hearted social meeting, in which we are nowengaged 
in the midst of the guardians, the alumni, the pupils and benefactors of t!ie Col- 
lege, and of many lovers of learning, has already elicited vivid thoughts and kin- 
dled warm sympathies ; more warm and more vivid, no doubt, fiom the kindly in- 
flence of the gentler friends who grace this board. 

Happy should I have been to remain a hearer and an observer only, for I came 
to Amherst not to speak but to listen. ]3ut since I have been called up by those 
who havs a right to command, I must even obey, although I must throw myself 
upon the indulgence of this courteous company, since I cannot offer premeditated 
thoughts, and must of necessity give utterance to the feelings, sentiments and rec- 
ollections which may present themselves, spontaneously, from the influence of the 
circumstances that now surround us. 

Allusion having been kindly made to my humble action in promoting the 
progress of science in our country, if I am to respond to that suggestion, I 
shall not be able to state what I have observed, without speaking somewhat of 
myself. Egotism I would gladly avoid, but as I cannot entirely escape from the 
consequential pronoun, I must beg pardon of my audience, while I pass on, as 
quickly as possible, to the more modest second and third persons, whom I shall be 
happy soon to introduce. In the summer of 1802, being then a tutor in Yale Col- 
lege, I had nearly finished a course of study in jurisprudence, intending to offer 
myself as a candidate for legal practice as soon as I should have passed the usual 
examination for admission to the bar. At this crisis, a rather tempting invitation 
was presented to me to remove to the State of Geoigia, to take charge, at first, of 
a higher Academy at Sunbury, in Liberty County, near to Savannah, and then to 
pass into the practice of tlie law. That distinguished man. Dr. Dwight, 
President of Yale College, being the friend of my father and family, and always 
a parental friend to me, I asked his advice on the occasion, when he promptly 
replied, " I advise you not to go to Georgia to make a permanent residence :" — 
and after assigning several cogent reasons, which need not be repeated here, he 
added : "I have a much better object to propose to you. The corporation of Yale 
College, last year, — 1801, — at my suggestion, passed a vote to establish a profes- 
sorship of Chemistry and the connected sciences, as soon as the funds of the Insti- 
tution would allow. We have no men among us possessing the requisite qualifi- 
cations; we cannot adopt a foreigner, with habits, and prejudices, and perhaps a 
language alien to our own, and we have therefore no alternative but to select some 
young man. in whom we can confide, and allow liim time and assistance to pre- 
pare himself for the duties of the new professorship; noAV," he added, " if you will 
allow your name to stand for this office, it shall be my care to see that you are ap- 
pointed at the next meeting of the corporation of the College in the ensuing Sep- 
tember." It was then July, and we were standing in front of the College buildings,, 
shielded from a fervid sun by the noble sycamores, now forty-six years older than 
on that day. I naturally thought of the still more fervid suns of Georgia, while 
the very unexpected and gratifying overture of the President revived a love of 
phenomena and of observation and experiment which had delighted my childhood 
and early youth, made me fiimiliar with mechanical employments and somewhat 
expert in the use of tools and in various juvenile fabrications. A chord of sympa- 
thy had been touched by a master hand ; my feelings promptly responded, and I 
consented to take the matter into consideration. 



33 

The president went on to enforce his proposition, by adding, th^t in his view, 
the sciences which he had named afforded a fair field of usefulness and of reputa- 
tion, especially for a young Inan, who might rise with them in our rising country, 
and if they did not present as flattering prospects of emolument as the law, they 
would be free from its distractions and collisions, and from the keen rivalry of a 
crowded profession. 

After consulting my friends, I agreed to accept the offer ; the appointment was 
made accordingly, and very much to the surprise of the public ; but suitable ex- 
planations of the plan soon set that matter right, and there was a ready acquies- 
cence in what appeared, at first, so startling if not preposterous. 

The political situation of tlie country being then critical, and the position of col- 
leges not being deemed very secure, I finished my legal studies and was duly ad- 
mitted to the bar ; for it appeared possible that I might find it still a desirable re- 
fuge from the violent movements of a tempestuous period. In the autumn of 
1802 and 3 I repaired to Philadelphia, and returned to New Haven in the spring 
season of 1803 and 4, after availing myself of the courses of scientific lectures, and 
especially of those of the late Dr. James Woodhouse on Chemistry. I was also 
associated in a course of private experiments with a gentleman,* then already a 
proficient, who aftei'wards became himself an eminent Professor of Chemistry in 
the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania, and has recently retired 
from his labors after a long and honorable course of public duty. 

Finding in the drawers of a small miscellaneous museum in Yale College a 
number of minerals,! packed them all, being then the entire mineral cabinet, 
in a small box, not larger than a common travelling valise, and took them to 
Philadelphia, in my first visit to that city, in November, 1802. The late Dr. Sey- 
bert, subsequently the distinguished writer on our national Statistics, had then re- 
cently returned from the celebrated school of Werner, at Fribourg, in Germany, 
and 'was, at that time, the only thoroughly trained mineralogist and geologist in 
the United States ; nor had he among us any superior in the science of Chemistry. 
An early introduction to that gentleman, secured his kind attention to my little 
collection, which I had marked by numerals, and I had prepared blank sheets of 
paper, with corresponding numbers, against which I Avrote the names which du- 
ring a visit to my chamber. Dr. Seybert gave me, as he performed the function of 
Adam at the creation, by imposing appellations on objects, most of which were 
quite as new to me as were the animals to our great progenitor. 

This brief, but to me very important instruction, I never forgot ; it was my 
starting point in mineralogy ; like the first dollar obtained in business, it became 
the basis of capital, and like that dollar, when earned by industry and effort, it 
was highly valued, because I realized its importance. From that time onward, for 
many years, I lost no occasion for studying and collecting minerals, until the sub- 
ject, illustrated by fine opportunities in the field and splendid collections in cabi- 
nets, grew upon me with a rapidity of acquisition equal to that which attends suc- 
cessful efforts in business, and with a degree of fascination not inferior to that 
which surrounds an acquired fortune. If any persons who have seen the cabinet 
of Yale College as it now stands arranged,! should chance to recollect the small 

* Robert Hare. 

t The splendid Gibba Cabinet was acquired within the first twenty years after my appoint- 
ment. 

5 



S4 

box of minerals Witli wliicli . it began, — they will not Jliink it extravagant, if irc 
should appropriate the classical sentiment, e parvls oriuntur magna. 

On the 4th day of April, 1804, I gave my first lecture in Chemistry to the Senior 
Class in Yale College, and the succeding seasons until March, 1805, were dili- 
gently occupied in the fulfilment of similar duties, and in constructing a LaLora- 
tory. 

BctAveen tbe months of ]^.Iarch 1805 and June 180G, I was industriously em- 
ployed, chiefly in England and Scotland, and a short time in Holland, in pursuits 
connected with Science and with the interests of Yale College. Rich sources of 
knowledge v/ere opened to me, both in the halls of inatruction in London and Ed- 
inburgh, and in the profound depths of the mines, and I returned with increased 
confidence and satisfaction to my proper duties. 

And here, Mr. President, as you have called me up and compelled m'e tO' speak 
of myself, I must be forgiven, if I now say something of you. 

What I am now to utter must be considered as spoken aside^ like some passa- 
ges in a play, and I shall adopt the fiction that you are not present, while I address 
myself not indeed to the galleries with which the room is not embellished, but to 
the tables, surrounded as they are by intelligent gentlemen and ladies. 

Several years after my return from Europe, and before this college was founded 
I received a small box of minerals from a person then unknown tome, who stated 
that he was the principal of Deerfield Academy, and that he was in the habit of 
collecting, in his excursions, among the rocky ridges of that picturesque and beau- 
tiful country, such minerals as he could find, but as he was not able to- name 
them, he had forwarded to me a box of specimens, with the localities attached, 
and I Avas desired to mark and return them. The accompanying letter produced 
a very favorable impression on my mind, by the intelligent zeal and modesty 
Avhich were its characteristics. It was therefore promptly and kindly answered •, 
the minerals were named, and the gentleman was encouraged to send other boxes 
as he might find occasion. In due time, other boxes came, and the mineralogists 
now present, hardly need to be informed, that the minerals were such as are 
usually found in trap or basalt formations , and that among them were quartz of 
several varieties, agates, chalcedony, analcime, chabasie, and other Zeolitic mine- 
rals ; some of which were not indeed of great practical importance, but all of them 
possessed a degree of scientific interest, as new localities, and especially as char- 
acterising, geologically, this part of the valley of the Connecticut. 

The interest which had been created by this correspondence was soon increased 
by personal interviews, resulting in several terms of residence at New Haven, 
Avhere all the sources of knowledge in our possession, were freely opened and ren- 
dered available to one who knew how to appreciate them and whose valuable mor- 
al, and interesting social traits made me happy to acknowledge an estimable per- 
sonal friend and efficient coadjutor in Edward Hitchcocr. 

If the arduous and important duties of the clerical profession under the convic- 
tion of the superior claims of religious duty, soon detached the devotee of science 
from his favorite pursuits, he never relinquished them entirely; and well might he 
linger over the science]of nature, in the study of which in the beautiful language 
of Agassiz, we read the thoughts of God, and thus the science of nature becomes 
preparatory and auxil iary to the study of revelation. Kot many years passed 
away, before we had the pleasure of recommending the Reverend clergymau 



35 

?is ft proper person to fill a professorship of Natural Science in this College; 
lie accepted the appointment, and wc have come forward to this day pari passu 
in the pursuits of science and united in the confidence of friendship. How 
ahly he fulfilled the duties of his station, is well known to all the classes 
wliich have passed under his instructions, and his grateful pupils have often sent 
him returns from distant lands, — even from central Asia, of the natural produc- 
tions of those regions so famed in ancient story. His numerous papers in the 
American Journal of Science and Arts, on the mineralogy and geology of the 
Connecticut River Valley and on many other subjects j and above all, his element- 
ary work on Geology and his elaborate and masterly report on the Geology and 
Natural History of Massachusetts, rendered more and more perfect in three edi- 
tions published by the government, prove that our confidence in him was well 
founded, and that he is fully entitled to the high reputation, both American and 
Kuropean, which he enjoys. 

I must now request another gentleman to vanish for a few moments, or to re- 
main incog, while I advert to some circumstances connected equally with his per- 
sonal history and with that of the departments of science which he has success- 
fully cultivated. 

Some years after this ccllcge was founded, I received a letter from a member 
of one of its college classes, whose name was ncAv to me. He, in a modest man- 
ner, offered for publication in the Amei-ican Journal of Science, a description of 
certain minerals found in this vicinity. The skill and tact of a proficient were 
apparent in this early eflfort, and he was of course encouraged to repeat his com- 
munications . As in the case of the honored head of this Institution correspondence 
brought us to a personal interview, followed by a residence at New Haven, under 
the shadow of the college. In the course of some time he became the scientific 
assistant in my department, and was, for several years, my zealous and able col- 
league; until the Eranklin Institute of New Haven, a popular Institution for in- 
struction made accessible to all persons, was founded by a patriotic citizen, James 
Brewster Esq. when the gentleman alluded to above became charged with the 
care of this new establishment. Erom this temporary connexion, we in full con- 
fidence indorsed him over to the Medical College of South Carolina, situated in 
Charleston, where he has for thirteen years sustained a high and deserved reputa- 
tion. 

His own alma mater has also adopted him, as one of her professors, and wc 
have now the pleasure of seeing Charles Upham Suepakd, among those who 
do honor to the Institutions with which he is connected, not only among his own 
countrymen, but in the Scientific circles of Europe. 

This gentleman has been a frequent contributor to the pages of the American 
Journal of Science and Arts, and his numerous explorations and reports on mines 
and mineral resources and various practical interests, including an able report on 
the economical mineralogy and geology of Connecticut have made him a part of 
the scientific furniture of his country, "known and used of all men." A rapid 
journey to Great Britain, 3ome years since, enlarged his knowledge and extended 
his connexions, and thus we are happy to see in this case and in many other in- 
stances, that learning does not always rust out in colleges, but is often drawn 
forth for the benefit of mankind. Professor Shcpard has also given us a valuable 
elementary work on mineralogy which is still a standard book. 



3G 

Contributions to science, through the American Journal have been made by 
other gentlemen of this faculty, but we must set limits to our present recapitula- 
tion, as the proprieties of this occasion do not allow us to go beyond the sphere of 
our personal observation in relation to this College and our own, and we can not 
even allude to a multitude of other interesting facts relating to the progress of 
Science over the wide area of our country, and to the connexion of the science of 
this land with that of Europe, where it is now eagerly sought for, and many of our 
best memoirs are republished in various languages. 

I cannot close these hasty remarks without offering my best congratulations to 
the friends of this college, on the happy occasion which has brought us together. 
A quarter of a century ago and Amherst College was not in existence; now it 
presents to us results worthy of our older Institutions : and if it has experienced 
adversity, and has in former years struggled on with limited means, it is now 
cheered by the bright sunshine of public and private patronage, and the useful 
arts have yielded to it a liberal portion of their rich results. May they long pros- 
per, and may that munificent individual, who knows so well ho«v to bestow the 
bounties of providence, long continue to reap and wisely use his golden harvest. 

The noble Building, constructed for an Observatory and Museum, which now 
crowns one of the hills of Amherst, does great honor to the Institution, to the lib- 
eral contributors to its erection, and to the architect. 

The museum of Natural History is rich in various departments, especially in 
mineralogy, geology, conchology, and entomology. The beautiful and very se- 
lect cabinet of mineralogy, deposited by Prof. Shepard would do honor to any uni- 
versity in Europe, and there are few collections in conchology and entomology 
equal to that of Prof. Adams, both as regards its extent, variety and com- 
pleteness and the fine taste and beauty of the arrangement; while the rich collec- 
tion made chiefly by the President, extremely interesting and instructive as it is 
especially in local specimens, is almost unique among the cabinets of our country. 

Here and at Greenfield* are to be seen the results of much labor and skill ex- 
pended in developing the foot marks of extinct races of animals that walked this 
earth and in this region in great Inultitudes soon after the era of the coal formation. 
This is not the occasion to discuss the relative claims of reptiles and birds as the 
authors of these tracks. It appears, hon^ever, to admit of no reasonable doubt 
that both once walked on the yielding but tenacious mud when it was in a fit 
state to receive and retain the impressions, which, in the case of some of the 
largest and deepest, fill us with astonishment, when we see that several quarts of 
water may be contained in the separate cavities, and that the tallest man strives in 
vain to equal the easy stride of these more than birds of Jove. 

The splendid science of Geology informs us that below the coal all animals 
were marine, — at the era of the coal, we find the first transition to amphibia 
and reptiles, and if our views are correct, to birds ; but many ages rolled by, 
before any terrestrial animal walked the earth, and more ages still before man, 
the lord of this lower creation, was called into being, and took quiet possession 
of his splendid palace. 

In this college. Astronomy still looks below as well as above for means to fulfil 

*At Greenfield, by Dr. Deane, who has distinguished himself greatly in this re- 
search,— aided by a zealous and intelligent artizan, Mr. Marsh, whose collection 
is exceedingly large and interesting. 



87 

\ts high behests. It will not be in vain that the telescopic apcrtnrc in the revolv- 
ing dome of this lofty observatory shews its empty space and its naked pedestal. 
Some Williston, or Hitchcock, or Lawrence, will, before many years, mount on this 
tower the magical tube that revolves the nebulie, and shews a countless multitude 
of worlds, where the naked eye sees only a diffused light, like that of the milky 
way. When Harvard needed a grand telescope it was only necessary for Prof. 
Pierce, during a public lecture on comets in Boston, to hold up in his hand a very 
small instrument, and to say that if they had not been as fortunate as a sister in- 
stitution in discovering the comet of 1842 — this was the reason, as they had no 
better telescope. We were present and did not doubt that this would prove a 
master stroke of eloquence, addressed as it was to the liberality of a rich and 
munificent community. The result is well known, and we hazard little in pre- 
dicting, that the mute eloquence of this unfurnished dome will prove equally ef- 
fectual, e'er many astronomical cycles have revolved. 

We cannot take leave of Amherst and its vicinity without casting our eyes, 
once more, upon its splendid scenes of grandeur, beauty and loveliness. Its ranges 
of abrupt and yet accessible mountains, — its gi*aceful hills of gentle slope, — its 
rich fields of com, and crops of various names, — its vast and luxuriant mead- 
ows, watered by its matchless river, — its numerous and brilliant villages, adorned 
with school houses, and bristling with steeples, — and more than all, its moral, 
intelligent, and happy population present to the eye and the mind a combination 
which it is delightful to contemplate. 

Permit then, a son of another State, which, as the younger sister of the same 
lineage, holds Massachusetts in high veneration, — and, as a son of an Institution 
which is a scion of the venerable Harvard, to wish all prosperity to the Colleges 
of this State, and especially to this young Institution, which, under its present 
wise and happy administration, will continue to enlarge its means of usefulness, 
and to draw to itself increasing esteem, confidence and affection. 

The reference of Dr. Silliman to Professor Shepard brought 

o 

the latter before the audience in the following remarks : 

In rising to return my thanks for the notice which Dr. Silliman has been pleas- 
ed to take of me in his remarks, I may perhaps be allowed to be so far egotistical 
as to allude to my early relations with that eminent individual. Twenty-two years 
ago, it was my good fortune to be admitted, first as a private pupil of the Profes- 
sor, and soon after as his assistant. Having previously had my attention strongly 
turned to the departments of chemistry and mineralogy, the increased facilities I 
found at New Haven for their prosecution, (arising from a well furnished labora- 
tory, a splendid cabinet of minerals, and a well supplied library,) heightened by 
the dignified and generous bearing of my instructor, determined so efTcctually the 
current of my life, that it has steadily kept to the same channel ever since. To 
my latest day, I shall never lose the memory of those happy years, in which there 
remains behind not one recollection tinctured with regret, save this : that I did 
not more assiduously improve the golden opportunities then placed within my 
reach. Whatever of success has waited upon my career, I am bound to ascribe to 
my early master; the errors and the imperfections which have marked my course 
are my own ; and I regret that the stock of these undesirable originalities is so 
very considerable. 



38 

I need scarcely add, that it is one of the plcasantcst events of my life to welcome 
the faithful jarofessor and learned editor here to-day, to whom Avitli many a palpi- 
tation of heart, I sent, while still a youthful student in yonder walls, the scientific 
paper to which he so flatteringly alluded, and from whom I soon received in reply, 
words of encouragement and hope. May his days be greatly prolonged on earth, 
to witness and to aid, the extension of those useful sciences, which he was among 
the first, and by far the most efficient of any, to introduce to the notice of his coun- 
trymen. 

In this reminiscence of my early associations, will Dr. Silliman allow me before 
taking my seat, to add, that my attention was drawn to a blooming boy, who used 
occasionally to linger about the laboratory and the cabinet. His first chemical ex- 
ploit, I believe, consisted in tapping a row of sugar-maple shade trees before his 
father's door, and in manufacturing from the sap a superior quality of sugar. He 
next surprised his friends by procuring a fine series of medallion castings in iron. 
These exploits, were followed in quick succession by the unassisted construction of 
a splendid turning lathe, by means of which he rapidly executed a great vai*iety of 
the most finished turnings in metal. That youth, as the years rolled by, stead- 
ily advanced in this promising career. He passed with credit the college curricu- 
lum^ became a skillful chemist and mineralogist, rose to an equal rank in the Uni- 
versity with my honored teacher himself, and enrolled his name as co-editor of the 
American Journal of Science. That name is no other than Profssor Benjamin 
Silliman, itself; and the individual Avho bears it, honors us with his presence to- 
day, in company with his distinguished parent. 

The elder Pliny wrote thirty-seven books on Natural History, Avhich constitute 
in this department, our most precious relic of classic antiquity. The elder Silli- 
man has already completed about fifty, in scientific journalism ; may the younger 
Silliman be permitted at least, to achieve the century of volumes ! 

Professor Shepard's allusions to Professor Silloian, Junior, 
produced a response from that gentleman. 

In reply, Prof. Silliman said *. That he was never taken so much by surprise 
as in finding himself alluded to on the present occasion, by the gentleman who 
had just spoken. Never before had he found himself placed in circumstances of 
such pecuUar embarrassment as his friend had now left him in 5 and much as he 
felt himself indebted to Professor Shepard on the occasion, he certainly could not 
thank him for the present flattering allusions, since they imposed the obligation of 
a reply, when entire silence was the only course consistent with his feelings. 

He reverted with great pleasure to those youthful days, wlien it Avas his privi- 
lege to enjoy daily intercourse with his distinguished friend, in the Laboratory of 
Yale College, and to witness the zeal with which he devoted himself to his favor- 
ite pursuits. He felt the power of this example in awakening his OAvn mind to 
kindred interest and zeal in the same departments. Certain he was, if any success 
should attend liis efforts in the cause of science, that the most of such success, 
should, in no inconsiderable degree, be most gratefully referred to the advantages 
derived by him from his former intimate connection with Prof. Shepard. 

The speaker would not trust himself to encounter those emotions which must 
unavoidably arise in his heart from a contemplation of the delicate position of pe- 



39 

culiar responsibility in which be was placed, as it were, by inheritance. Mr. Shep- 
ard had feelingly alluded to his editorial connections and his filial position. He 
felt most keenly his inability to meet all the expcctatio-ns which might be reason- 
ably entertained in consequence of the advantages which he had always enjoyed . 
No one else could be so painfully sensible as himself of the imperfect manner in 
which he had improved those opportunities, and he must rely upon the kind con- 
sideration of his friends for all his short comings. 

He adverted with pleasure to the present encouraging position of Amherst Col- 
lege, — to her enlarged and available means of instruction. He had not before en- 
joyed the pleasure of being within her walls, and he could scarcely credit the 
statements he had heard of her former days of despondency and gloom, contrast- 
ed as such a condition was with her present position of commanding excellence, — 
not second to the best appointed institutions in this country. The speaker con- 
cluded by congratulating the President upon the remarkable prosperity which had 
attended his administration of the afi'airs of Amherst College, — a success which 
was the best pledge of future usefulness and advancement. 

Another scientific gentleman was thus introduced : 
When Franklin discovered the laws of Electricity, it gave him 
power to a certain extent, over the lightning. "We have a gentleman 
with us on this occasion, who has obtained a similar power over the 
winds and the storms, in the same way, by discovering at least a part 
of the laws that regulate them. It gives me pleasure to introduce 
my friend, William C. Redpield, Esq., of New York, known 
throughout the scientific world, as having well nigh wrested the scep- 
tre from Eolus, and the trident from Neptune. 
The response of Mr. Redfield was as follows : 

Mr. W. C- Redfield could only offer his thanks for the kind manner in 
which he had been introduced by the President to the respected auditory. If it 
had been his fortune to be instrumental, in any degree, in pointing out to the mar- 
iner the true dangers which beset his path, and the best methods for avoiding or 
lessening these dangers, it had been owing, in a great measure, to those earlier ef- 
forts for the promotion of American science, which they had heard described so 
eloquently on the present occasion, — in which efforts, Professor Silliman, Presi- 
dent Hitchcock, and others, had been so eminently distinguished. He saw before 
him some of the friends to whom he had been mainly indebted for advice and en- 
couragement in his own humble efforts and inquiries, and among them one, [Dr. 
Gridley, of Amherst,] who, when a college student, had first draAvn his uncultiva- 
ted attention to chemistry and other natural sciences, which at that time had only 
begun to receive attention in our colleges. It was his prinlege to be a native of 
the Connecticut valley, and, having been brought here to-day, by the interest 
which he felt in its prosperity and in the progress of useful knowledge, he could 
make no claims to their attention but such as might well belong to the sons of 
New England who have been trained in her common schools. He would consid- 
er these primary schools as constituting the true foundation of those maturer ef- 



40 

forts and institutions for the promotion of knowledge and virtue which we had 
met to commemorate ; and would now beg leave to offer as a sentiment,— The 
Common Schools of New England : living germs of a great future. 

A letter from the Hon. Jonathan C. Perkins, whose Report 
and efforts as chairman of the Committee of the Legislature, had ex- 
erted a strong influence in giving the College success in its applica- 
tion for aid from that body, was introduced with the following remarks r 

Little did I imagine that among our numerous benefactors we 
should find the Sea Nymphs, coming to our aid. But I hold in my 
hand their beautiful offering, which the following letter from Hon. 
J. C. Perkins will explain. 

Salem, June 20, 1848. 
My Dear Sir : 

I have sent addressed to you, a book of sea plants, prepared for the use o-f Am- 
herst College by some of my friends in Salem : Mrs. James Briggs, Mrs. Robert 
Brookliousc, the Misses Richardson, and Mrs. Perkins, my wife. It appears to be 
a very choice collection. Will you be kind enough to take the book and make 
such disposition of it as you may think proper and useful. 

I am very sorry that my engagements in Court at Ipswich will necessarily 
prevent my accepting your very kind and flattering invitation to be present at the 
meeting of the friends and benefactors of Amherst College, on the 28th inst. I 
find that time and age increase and strengthen my interest in the prosperity of 
Amherst, — and I am sure it would afford me great pleasure to join in congratu- 
lations upon her success. But that I must forego at this time. 
Ever faithful and sincerely, 

Yours, &c. 

J. C. Perkins. 

Here is another similar offering from Miss Sarah S. Mugford^ 
of the same city, rendered doubly valuable from the fact, that the se- 
verest bodily sufferings of years have not extinguished in her the love 
of nature. 

It seems then, that the Sea Nymphs would probably never have 
thought of us, had they not been moved by the Land Nymphs. I 
know, then, that you will join me in wishing health and happiness to 
the Land Nymphs of Salem ; nor would I withhold the wish from any 
of this family in Massachusetts. 

Another gentleman was thus called upon : 

I see near me a gentleman who twenty-five years ago, and only two 
years after the College was regularly commenced was a Tutor in it, and 
subsequently for ten years a Professor. We shall claim a little credit 
for the extensive good he has accomplished since that time, in another 



41 

sphere, on the ground that his eleven years successful instruction 
here, in that microcosm, a college, more fully prepared him to act 
successfully in the larger world on which he has been operating. 
Gentlemen, it is hardly necessary for me to say, that I refer to Dr* 
Worcester, of Salem. 

To this call Dr. Worcester promptly responded. 

Mr. President : 

If I were to express myself in military phrase, such as was so common in the 
days of Napoleon, I should say of myself, that I belonged to the " Old Guard" of 
Amherst College. — It is now twenty-five years, next October, since I came rock- 
ing over the hQls of Pelham to this place. It was literally so ; for the vehicle in 
which I rode, was as much like a bread-tray as anything else. This used to come 
into the town with the mail, once a week, — returning also the next day from North- 
ampton ; and stirred up all the people, both of the East street and the West. 

I arrived here one week before our reverend friend, the late president of the Col- 
lege, whom I regret not to see present with us, on this delightful occasion. I had 
received my appointment, I might say, from the gentleman, who has since been so 
well known as the Editor of the " National Preacher." He had come to Andover, 
as a plenipotentiary ambassador from the higher powers, to secure some one to fill 
the office of junior Tutor in the " Amherst Collegiate Institution." I was then an 
assistant in Phillips Academy, having left my class in the Theological Seminary, 
about two weeks previous. I had known but little of the Institution, but accept- 
ed the appointment, as a choice of evils, one year. And if I had known a small 
part only of what I soon ascertained to be the state of things, it is not at all pro- 
able, that I could have been persuaded to leave my situation in the Academy. 

On my arrival, I was met by one of the friends of the Institution, who accom- 
panied me to my room in the " South College." Very difterent was the whole ap- 
pearance of things from what is now seen, upon yonder hill, and all around us. I 
was soon conducted to the upper story of what is now the " Middle College," and 
to the room which was then used for the *' Chapel." Adjoining this were the 
rooms for the library and the apparatus, philosophical and chemical. While in- 
specting the books, I was informed of the encouraging remark of a gentleman , 
who had said, that they were " sufficient for the beginning of a library of fifty thous- 
and volumes P But a wheel-barrow^ few times loaded, could easily have borne 
them all away; and if a considerable part had thus been disposed of, it might have 
been as well, so far as any actual benefit was derived from them. Of the " ap- 
paratus" I can hardly trust myself to speak. There was, I believe, an electrical 
machine, which possibly might have raised a spark, and an air-pump. 

Among the students in the different classes, numbering in all about 125, there 
was a good degree of talent, and enterprise. The Senior Class consisting of nine- 
teen members, it is no diparagement to their successors to say, has never been ex- 
ceeded, in ability and real worth. Prom one of t'he distinguished Professors, (Dr. Ed- 
wards,) which that class has given to our New England, yoU have heard in a letter 
which has just been read, and the speech of another we have had the pleasure of 
reoeiving from the gentleman on my right. (Prof Shepard.) 



42 

The opposition to the College, at the time when I l)ecame conneeted with it, A\as 
very great, in all this region. Good, men, honestly no doubt, were divided in 
opinion, in regard to the expediency of its establishment, and the course which was 
pursued. There was much misunderstanding and misrepresentation. No charter 
had been obtained from the Legislature. Some of the most eminent ministers as 
I well remember to have noticed, when they preached in the pulpit of the village, 
could pray for tJie young men, who Avere assembled here for education ; but they 
could not pray for the Institution, and much as ever did they pray for the officers. 

Such were the trials of the President, in that first year of his experience, that 
at one time he narrowly escaped, as many thought, a fatal prostration. If he had 
not left his duties aad cares for a season, he would have found as early a grave, as 
did his estimable predecessor, in the summer previous. Were it suitable, I 
could speak out upon this subject, and make known what has been but little under- 
stood or appreciated, of his difficulties and perplexities, as the head of the Institu- 
tion, in its early days. 

In the Spring of 1824, a committee was appointed by the Legislature, to come to 
Amherst, and investigate all matters affecting the Institution, and report the ensuing 
winter. There was no dread of a candid and impartial scrutiny. But from divers 
causes and occasions, the prospect was gloomy indeed. Many of the best students 
had become uneasy and discontented; Some were dissatisfied with the means of 
instruction ; others feared that they never should be able to obtain a diploma, like 
graduates at incorporated Colleges. In the Summer Terra, when I was expecting 
to leave my humble station, I was informed in a confidential interview, that a large 
portion of the class, which Avas then becoming Junior, — had determined to take a 
dismission, unless they could ha\'e better instruction in the languages, and some 
lectures upon ancient literature. Members of the Freshman Class also, which had 
been particularly under my care, expressed a similar purpose, — provided they 
could not be assured of my remaining Avith them. — I regret to be obliged to speak 
so much in the way of personal allusion ; but it is impossible, that I should other- 
wise state the facts, which ought to be knoAvn, in respect to this dark period of the 
history of the College. 

From my personal esteem for Dr. Humphrey, I may say, Mr. President, more 
than from any other consideration, I yielded at last to an application to remain. 
There Avas one condition, hoAvever, which it was somewhat ventui*esome in a 
young officer to prescribe. It was, that there^hould be a new Professor. The 
condition Avas acceded to, and to my great surprise, I w^as solicited to take the 
office, which Avas to be made A'acant. Of this, you may be assured, I should not 
have spoken, but for its connexion with the best service, which it Avas my privi- 
lege to render to Amherst College. Instead of accepting the office proposed to me, 
I at once nominated my friend and brother, and your friend and brother, Mr. Pres- 
ident, the LAMENTED PROFESSOR FiSKE. I Went myself to persuade him to 
join us. He had just returned from a missionary service, at the South. You 
need not, that I should tell you what has since followed, from his connexion with 
the College. 

We commenced the college-year 1824 — 3, with tAvo neAv officers, and were five 
in all. The Senior Professor attempted but little labor, and was absent muph of 
the time, until the Institution was incorporated, when he tendered his resignation. 
The rest of us had to work hard, but we were of one heart and soul. And I ques- 



43 

lion whether, in any subsequent year, tlie internal state of the Institution was 
more pleasant and animating. 

When the " long agony" Avas over, and the intelligence of the Act of Incorpor- 
ation, as fully signed and sealed, had arrived, there was, as you may well suppose, 
not a little of exhilaration. At evening prayers, the president read a portion of 
Scripture, which you will find in the 4th Chapter of Nehemiah. I do not think 
I shall soon forget how he read the words : " But it came to pass tliat when San- 
ballat heard that Ave builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, 
and mocked the Jews. And he spake before his brethren, and tlie army of Sa- 
maria, and said, Avhat do these feeble Jews 1 will they fortify themselves "? will 
they sacrifice ? Avill they make an end in a day 1 will they revive the stones out of 
the heaps of the rubbish which are burned 1 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by 
him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break 
down their stone Avail, &c." The emphasis upon " Sanhallat" and " Tobiah" and 
*' the Arabians,''^ and the ^'fox going up" you may be certain had its efllect 5 as did 
the other parts of the Chapter, upon which there Avas no commentary but in the 
tones of the reading, and no practical observations but in the answering emotions 
of all present. 

When the ncAV 'Faculty Avas appointed, under the Charter, your own honored 
name, Mr. President, Avas among them. And I doubt not, you Avill bear me Avit- 
ness, that after the college Avas regularly organized, those young oliicers entered 
upon their Avork, in their respective departments, Avith much industry and energy. 
They Avere quite different from one another, each having his OAvn peculiarities ; yet 
■were they truly a 6a«c?q/'6/-oi/iers, Avho harmonized as one, in the emulous exer- 
tion to make the college Avorthy of public confidence and a liberal patronage. 
But I must not enlarge. I could noAv speak for hours of the events and scenes in 
the ten years subsequent to the Act of Incorporation, 

More recently, the College has had the sad reverses, which avc all have felt most 
deeply. But in the darkest days of decline and depression, there has been that 
same faith in God, for which its founders and early friends Avere so remarkable. 
And Avhat are we noAV permitted to behold ? We behold. Mi-. President, what the 
most confident, the most sanguine of all, Avho have prayed for the prosperity and 
perpetuity of this College, could never haA^e expected with their own eyes to witness. 

And Sir, of those living. Avho are absent, or of those dead, Avho have gone to 
their reward on high, Avho Avould more rejoice to be Avith us, at this thrilling festi- 
val, than our departed brother, Avhose memory is so dear 1 When in days gone 
by, we Avere so happily associated together, how little was it thought by you or 
me, and how little could it have been expected by himself, that he would ever 
send you those stones from " the goodly Lebanon,"* Avhich Moses saAV from the 
summits of Pisgah ; and, that at last he Avould find his sepulchre AA^th king David, 
on Mount Zion ! 

I Avept Avhen I heard of his death : for I loved him as an OAvn brother. I Avept, 
as I said to myself, hoAV delighted he Avould have been to hear of the divine inter- 
position, so signally manifested in behalf of the College ! But I did not say, 
"Alas! my brother." I said, '^ I give you Joi/, my hrother. It is all AvellAvith thee." 

He has gone , Ave cannot doubt, to that glorious city, Avhich " hath the founda- 
tions of the wall garnished with all manner of precious stones." He is an inhab- 

*More than 200 specimens in the Cabinet Avere sent by Prof. Fiskc from Syria 
and Palestine. 



44 

ita.ni where it is r\eyer ^aid, " I go the ivai/ of all the earth !'^ Be it our aim to be 
faithful as was he, that we may have our part in ihe same blessedness ! We 
are yet in the world of action, where our appropriate duty is woRJi., for the high- 
est good of man, and the glory of HIM to whom all glory belongs : and where 
none but God, angels that never sinned, and spirits of just men made perfect, " are 
entitled to be spectators. 

I conclude, Mr. President, as others have before me. I give you as a sentiment 
for the occasion : The Founders of Amherst College, — worthy sons op 

THE IMMORTAL FATHERS OF NeW EnGLAND ! 

The following remarks were intended to bring before the company, 
a gentleman present, who is distinguished in science : But the public 
conveyance summoned him away before he could reply. 

The Government of the United States within a few years have car- 
ried through two great enterprises : the Exploring Expedition to the 
South Seas and a War with Mexico. The first cost perhaps three 
or four millions of dollars, — and the last one hundred and fifty. The 
results of both are now in a great measure before the world, and to 
which will impartial christian men now and hereafter attach the 
most honor ? We have present a gentleman who shared in the toils 
and dangers of the Exploring Expedition, and whose splendid vol- 
umes of Reports are among the noblest results of that enterprise. I 
do not expect, however, that my friend James D. Dana, Esq., 
whom I am happy to introduce to this assembly, will on account of 
his battles and victories in the South Seas, be brought before the 
people as a candidate for the Presidency or any other high political 
office. But I am sure he deserves and will receive some of the high- 
est honors which the Republic of Letters can bestow. 

Besides the gentlemen from other Colleges of New England, whose 
names have been already mentioned, others were present who were 
alluded to as follows : 

We are honored by the presence of gentlemen connected with other 
New England Colleges, from whom we have not yet heard. Those 
Institutions are the Watch Towers, of this part of the Republic of 
Letters. Our cause, therefore, is a common one, and whatever 
strengthens one strengthens the whole, and whatever weakens one 
weakens the whole. We can therefore rejoice with one another in 
prosperity and sympathize in adversity. The gentlemen present, to 
whom I refer, hold commissions in fortresses that have long been 
distinguished in the great warfare that is going on against ignorance 
and despotism, vice and irreligion, — and they I doubt not will be glad 
to see any evidence that the most recent of these towers is filling up 
its magazines and burnishing its armor, after the example of those of 



45 

earlier date. But I hope that these gentlemen will let us hear from 
themselves, something on this great subject of education. Allow me 
to introduce President Wheeler of Vermont University, and Pro- 
fessor Lasell of Williams College. 

The public conveyance took away Professor Lasell before he had 
time to respond to the call. Dr. Wheeler however favored the com- 
pany with some very interesting views on the subject of education. 
But the great pressure of public duties has prevented him from giving 
his address upon paper in season for this publication. 

Professor Hubbard of Dartmouth College had hoped to be 
present, but having been prevented, the following extract from his let- 
ter will be interesting to the friends of science. 

" It may be relevant on this occasion of your celebration to men- 
tion, that our College has recently imported a telescope and other in- 
struments, from Munich, — made to order, — sufficient for furnishing an 
Observatory. I trust that at no distant period, Amherst and Dart- 
mouth may be in direct communication with each other and Yale : 
thus constituting a line of points of advantageous observations, hard- 
ly equalled." 

Professor Adams (and we might make a similar remark in respect 
to some other gentlemen,^ had no opportunity to reply to the allusions 
to him and his Cabinet by Dr. Silliman. He was therefore request- 
ed to furnish for this pamphlet any remarks which he might then have 
desired to make. He has accordingly sent in the following : 

The efforts of naturalists to exhibit the true order of Nature, can never fail to 
gratify a correct and refined taste. Such order is of far higher origin than mere 
human invention, and is so perfect as to harmonize no less with our emotions of 
beauty than with our ideas of fitness and method. It is indeed one of the most 
delightful features of science, that the farther she advances in a correct knowledge of 
nature, the more symmetrically and harmoniously are all the powers of the intellect 
and the emotions of beauty and virtue gratified and invigorated. Nor can the les- 
son of humility be lost on the lover of science, since his highest efforts consist 
only in the discovery and exhibiton of a beauty and perfection, which not only 
does not originate in him, but which extends far beyond the most distant flights of 
his imagination. A feeble beginning has been made hei*e in the exhibition of the 
Divine plan of nature. That it should meet with the approbation of one, whose 
lite has been a long series of eminent services rendered to science, is truly grati- 
fying. We are encouraged to hope that what has been done is in harmony with 
the highest truths, when it is regarded with satisfaction by one who has been ac- 
customed in the diffusion of science, ably and happily to illustrate the infinite 
glories of the great Author of Nature. 



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